Non-Big 4 TAS vs Valuations vs Small M&A boutique

Hi guys/girls

I graduated earlier this year from my MSc at a Target school in the UK and want to go into IB. Unfortunately I wasnt too successful in the most recent cycle but luckily I do have 3 full-time offers on the table: non-Big 4 TAS, Valuation Advisory (think FTI, A&M, D&P, etc) and a small M&A boutique (good/balanced team and reasonable deal-flow).

My medium-term (2-3 years) goal is to lateral into MM IB and I would love to know more about which paths might help me towards my objective and what I should be considering before I make a decision.

Thanks!

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I went from a non-Big 4 valuations team to a BB IB coverage role. It’s definitely possible. As for your goal of MM IB, your best bet imo is the small boutique or TAS.

The boutique will give you a ton of IB experience and the skills are more transferable. TAS is great too as you work on actual deals and banks want transaction experience. You might have a bigger name behind you and that may look better to your target MM IB.

Valuations is possible especially at a great firm. The big knock on me was my lack of transaction experience. Fortunately, I had interned for a LMM PE firm so that filled in the gaps for that qualification.

Happy to answer any additional questions if you DM me.

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