Pwp Vs Moelis (rx & m&a)
What’s the comparison and also which one has better RX and M&a groups
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Both are comparable. Moelis's RX team is traditionally been considered stronger but PWP's RX team holds their weight and is also strong (if you want RX, should be noted that it's probably easier to get placed at Moelis because PWP's RX team is comparably much smaller relative to the firm as a whole). On the M&A side, Moelis's deal flow is a bit more oriented towards sponsor deals while PWP's traditionally been more oriented towards serving corporates. As a result, Moelis is more of a volume shop where you'll get worked but get your deal reps in, and at PWP you'll spend more time with the same blue-chip clients.
RX: Moelis team is historically extremely strong due to the poaching of the old Jefferies team in the firms infancy. Perella team is newer, post Kramer gutting in ‘16. As noted above, it’s a smaller group and for this reason more selective on mandates. Both groups have had a ton of success in recent years (PWP iHeart/FTX Moelis Hertz/Genesis). PWP group also growing rapidly, along with the rest of the firm, from what I understand.
M&A: Sponsor backed transactions at the heart of Moelis DNA as said above said. PWP leans corporate and as a whole is more selective and identifies high fee opportunities over volume traditionally. For example, consumer works with Estee, Altria, Pernod Ricard frequently to name a few. In healthcare Medtronic a legacy client. Both firms very comparable, and from what I could see PWP has edged out Moelis in 21 and 22, but this could fluctuate in future years.
International: PWP very strong in Europe especially France and Germany. Moelis great in Asia.
One last note, PWP is a much smaller firm (headcount around 650). Moelis is north of 1.1k. Perella will most likely reach that headcount in future years post-spac as they’ve repeatedly stated the desire to scale the firm.
Both great firms, on very solid trajectories with incredible founders still involved in the firms.
If you want to slave away in the office at 2am creating hockey-stick growth DCF models for a $15M run-rate EBITDA company to try to convince Apollo and Centerbridge to pay 20x+ multiples, go to Moelis. If you want to slave away in the office at 2am producing 200 accretion dilution scenarios on a buy-side engagement for a Fortune 100 client only for them to drop out of the process when they realize those synergies you modeled for them have 0% chance of realizing, go for PWP.
All jokes aside, both are strong firms and any decision between them is splitting hairs, and the biggest differentiation between the two firms would probably be down to cultural fit. From anecdotal experience, at the junior level, Moelis tends to attract more of the Wharton finance hardo that's super into distressed investing type, whereas PWP tends to attract more of the chiller Duke/Brown/Georgetown frat bro/sorority girl type.
Fwiw the juniors at PWP have a much better 2am view from the GM building compared to the analysts stuck in 399 Park Avenue at Moelis.
Lol very true. PWP's consistently willing to splash the cash on real estate, with the GM building in NY, TPH's really nice office in Houston, and from what I've heard super swanky new offices for their London and LA bankers.
Has Moelis renovated 399 yet?
How is the summer experience structured/group placement process for both firms' NY offices?
PWP is generalist in the summer but you're assigned a "home group" and spend most of your time in 2-3 groups. You go through FT placement after your summer.
Do you know how competitive RX is at PWP?
With Moelis the SA is generalist but you submit group preferences before the summer and HR tries to staff you with your preferred groups more frequently.
How competitive is RX?
If you’re talking about M&A in terms of a product group, it should be noted that PWP doesn’t have a dedicated M&A group and coverage groups do everything in-house. Moelis has a dedicated M&A (I believe staffed with a handful of juniors) that’s brought in to handle some of the more complex and larger deals.
Does that mean that the M&A juniors hold the pen on the models for most large-cap deals and coverage juniors are relegated to the coverage work?
All the coverage groups do their own M&A so it is a bit of a misnomer. The M&A group is very 'top heavy' meaning it is mostly MDs with a good amount of EDs as well which are normally the guys that supplement the 'coverage' teams. The junior teams are more interchangeable in the sense that it could be an analyst/associate both from 'coverage' or an M&A analyst/coverage associate, etc. Bottom line if you want to work on live large-cap stuff you need to be a good performer so whether you are in the M&A group or coverage group is not that important. It's not at all like some BBs where the coverage team wins the work and all the nuts and bolts of the M&A process get passed off to a separate M&A team.
RX is a bit different now that analysts are assigned to groups. In the past if you were in the generalist pool you could get staffed on any type of deal but RX teams tend to be junior (analyst/associate) from RX team specifically and then mid-level and seniors (VP-MD) from both the coverage groups and RX groups.
Agree with the above posters, picking between the two would have to come down to culture and fit. That being said, from the perspective of someone on the buy-side, I personally prefer PWP for the better deck aesthetic (cleaner ppt format, color palette adds a bit more character than MoCo's gold + navy while still being pleasing to the eyes).
PWP. Already had better culture and analyst experience and now with senior management supporting exits as the firm grows, the exits are the same if not better.
Really a toss up between the two. Go with the firm you vibe with more.
Curious - how do the firm's NY HC groups compare?
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