Recently heard about the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) sending an outreach to a recruitment consulting agency to update their tier to bulge bracket and EB at the least. The recruitment consulting agency then updated the rank. Any thoughts on this?
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Not BB not EB not MM they’re in their own category but still closer to MM
any reasons behind?
Having spoken to senior people about this during recruitment, they’re not pursuing the BB and much less EB label. It’s weird the CMO would do that though.
Jefferies’ closest peers are pre-2008 banks like Merrill, Bear, and Lehman. Large balance sheet used aggressively, advisory focused but not exclusively advisory, offering a range of products but not the full suite across the globe like a BB. Senior bankers explicitly said this is the model they’re building, not BB and definitely not EB. Can’t really be MM either when they work on $1bn deals all the time, $5bn deals fairly consistently now, and even a few $10bn+ deals in the last couple years.
Ah the first EBB (elite bulge bracket) after RBC, of course
Jef is in their own bucket, though, will say "all the time" on 1Bn+ deals is a stretch, Jef works on any deals ranging from 100mm - 1Bn+ EV, it's a hallmark of Jefferies. Jef gets you ga reat experience for decent exits and terrible WLB (even for IB). It's a very unique bank and hard to categorize, but the actual deal experience is strong for most groups, even though outrageously sweaty (every bank is sweaty relative to a regular job; but there's a reason Jefferies is a meme for terrible WLB even in this industry; it's truly that much worse than the rest).
Do you have first hand experience? If so, any groups that will minimize the nightmare?
Per Refinitiv, more $1bn+ deals in 2025 than Moelis, Gugg, Lazard, Citi, etc. Either that qualifies as all the time, or we need to start reconsidering a lot of other banks.
CMO reaching out to Chinese agency beggin for more recognition is absolute drama LMFAO
Jeff acquire by Nomura could be a move
Thought it’s SMBC that owns a lot of Jefferies
If anything, SMBC will acquire a higher stake. Don’t know where you got Nomura from.
Echo your analogy with the pre crisis banks, RH has definitely voiced that’s what he’s modelling Jef after, coming from Drexel himself
Generally agree with comment above with caveat that it is a tactical vs large B/S (e.g not known to take RCF holds, and B/S used for selective deals or acquisition financing). My understanding is comp structure actually incentivizes bankers to not use capital (e.g. a deduct to pay for a revolver hold or outstanding capital committment).
How is the reputation of Jefferies in London? Exit opps?
Good bank in London. Healthcare team best in Europe and US, very strong Industrials team / TMT / Energy. Good M&A / Levfin team. Avoid because every team will drain you
Is Industrials in London a sweatshop?currently interviewing there hence asking
They simply aren't anywhere near global enough, so no. Not an EB because one of their biggest things is their very strong and unregulated LevFin franchise that allows sponsors to take higher leverage than traditional banks. They have less of an argument for being a BB than UBS and DB, who at least historically were truly global banks, strong in every region/were BBs.
Would generally classify them as an Upper Middle Market shop to differentiate them from the other MM pack.
Does Jefferies want to be or care about being a BB is the more poising question? Some poster a few months ago talked about them being a bit like Bear Stearns in terms of size and presence pre-GFC
del
del
The bulge bracket and other classifications of banks are retarded. What matters is full-service / lending bank or advisory only, the group, and size / type of deals typically worked on.
hit the nail on the head
Basically this. And besides, not all bulge brackets are good. Imagine working at DB.
Jefferies is no where near close to being a bulge bracket lol just search up there market cap its a MM firm overall. Will never be able to come close to a full-service bulge bracket bank category. That's not their strategy.
They are doing better than they used to and have been crushing M&A league tables the last few years, but every person I have met who works there is either wildly rude, dishonest or on the lower side of the IQ spectrum (hate generalizing but I have 5+ examples in one or all of the buckets).
In my humble view, until they fix those aspects of their reputation / culture, they won't be viewed as a world-class organization the way the big bulge bracket banks are. They will also need to get a banking license and be a full-service advisor, but I think they prefer not to do any of that right now so they can keep winning deals the bigger banks have to turn down (crypto stuff etc.) for compliance, KYC, conflicts or other reasons.
Nobody gives a fuck about shit like this other than college kids bruh
Most MDs have no idea what an “EB” is
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