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PJT & HL on top & differences between the rest are marginal. Can do a quick Linkedin search if you really want to get into the weeds
PJT, HL, LAZ, EVR, MOE, PWP
This is wrong, it seems most RX rankings on this site are from individuals who have never worked in it. I’ve been in RX for 5+ years at a top shop and can tell you there isn’t a ton of debate over rankings given how small the industry is. General industry consensus amongst the top banks / law firms / FA’s:
Tier 1A: PJT & Moelis
Cream of the crop. Consistently both pull in huge mandates, have analysts exit to MF / top distressed and have great cultures (Moelis more academic, PJT more lax bro). Whichever firm is “better” than the other changes every year, and there really isn’t any point in trying to differentiate them in terms of ranking.
Tier 1B: Houlihan Lokey
HL is interesting as it is basically on the same tier as MC & PJT if you view it as one cohesive RX group (total gross fees, total deals, etc.), but it provides a worse experience to junior bankers given its structure. Basically, HL’s headcount is multiples larger than MC / PJT’s and is spread out across the country. They also have verticals within the group so you may just be a P&U RX analyst, for example. Additionally, they are willing to take much smaller deals given their manpower. In the end you get a powerhouse firm, but one where juniors generally work on smaller deals in narrower areas and receive less responsibility. Culture is solid overall, but can differ drastically depending on what part of the group you sit in.
Tier 2: Ranked in order best to worst - Lazard, PWP, Evercore
Lazard - clear top of tier 2, powerhouse reputation in the industry and the name still carry’s a ton of weight. Deal flow has decreased over the years but still swings significant mandates. Don’t know the culture first hand so I won’t speculate.
PWP - solid group on the upswing. They win less headline mandates than the firms above but will pull one out every once in a while. It has more of a “start up” feel for better or for worse. Great culture.
Evercore - worse deal flow and culture than any of the above, but they are better than firms that aren’t listed here (CVP, TRS, Ducera, etc). Working there you will still get exposure to quality mandates, but the quantity will be materially lower. The groups culture is in-line with the rest of the bank, so leave it to you to research. The Evercore RX group gets a great reputation on this site because it has the name “Evercore”, but in no way is the RX group comparable to the M&A practice.
All in all, every group mentioned above is great. You will work on quality live deals, have great exits and be surrounded by brilliant team members.
I'm a bit confused, isn't Ducera formed by the old PWP restructuring team? If so, why would PWP be ranked higher than them/be on the upswing. Was the old team at PWP (that formed Ducera) not as good? Or did PWP just happen to hire well following the mass exits? And on the flip side if PWP's old RX team was so well respected, why is Ducera considered a tier below the banks you listed above? Is it mostly due to them being new or some other reason (like the culture, not too informed but have heard that it isn't great)
The “Ducera” point on PWP is so tired and has been talked about many times. Yes it hurt PWP when it happened. That was 7 years ago now. They rebuilt, hired quality senior talent, and have landed really quality, and as the comment above said occasionally headliner, mandates. Ducera is not even comparable on the deals they work on.
Yes, PWP (Bruce Mendelson) hired well and rebuilt the practice. Not sure why Ducera stagnated, but they are a solid firm, just with less deal flow and lower quality seats on deals.
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This is a commentary on the groups, but not necessarily on the analyst programs I would assume?
Ranking analyst programs likely comes up with a bit of a different ranking given generalist SA at PWP, Laz, MOE and exits/willingness of seniors to help with exits/class sizes
I know that Laz is pretty Buy-side supportive. It was one thing that they kept drilling into our heads when the rx group came to campus
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Solid group. Has a bit of the name effect that Evercore does where people on the outside overrate the group based on the name. I don’t know the culture well but have had good experiences with them from the outside.
I’ve found they do pretty interesting deals. Seems like they do less volume than Evercore but more esoteric stuff, which I personally think is cool, but really a personal preference.
If you land a spot in CVP RX (or any of these Tier 1 + 2 firms) you should stay, no need to lateral. The incremental increase in quality of group just isn’t worth it to claw upstream as an Analyst. If you’re planning to stay on as an Associate and beyond, then it might be worth exploring if you’re not a fan of the culture (or something like that, they may have a great culture, I don’t know them well enough).
You are incorrect when it comes to RX programs from an analyst's perspective.
You have the perspective of working in the space for many years, but that actually detaches you from the reality of what incoming analysts are looking for. I can tell you that at my target, 20% or less of the kids who went into RX actually wanted to do distressed. What they wanted were the placements and branding a top RX program provides. The reality is that these kids are just looking to put in their 2 years and head out to an MF / UMM PE. From that perspective:
T1: PJT > EVR > HL
T2: MOE > LAZ
T3: PWP ??
Put another way, almost no analysts care what the industry consensus between "top banks / law firms / FAs" is. People are looking for the consensus opinions of the funds they're recruiting out for, which, according to on-cycle placements the last 2 years, your list probably couldn't be more wrong (please tell me where MOE/LAZ RX are consistently sending kids). You basically don't even start on your first FT deal before getting an on-cycle offer so the deal flow point is moot. Also, based off Reorg's 2022 list and the below poster's 2020 list, you seem to be off there as well.
If you plan on staying on the sell side after 2 years, maybe your list makes sense. I don't know - I didn't. The kids that recruit into PJT/EVR/HL generally don't. Otherwise, I do not know a single person who would ever consider MOE/LAZ in the same tier as PJT/EVR/HL for RX.
Feel free to toss MS at me if you work at LAZ/PWP/MOE RX, but it won't change the objective reality that you are simply not in the same tier when it comes to exits.
Chill, you make some valid points from the analyst recruiting perspective but you are making generalizations about analyst outcomes at some firms which aren’t true. I do hear you on the recruiting generalist to then join RX structure at Moelis. My guess is that they’ll start direct recruiting in the future, we’ll see.
I’m not going to profess to be an expert in analyst buy-side recruiting, but I think we can all agree people on this site over analyze it at times. Safe to say if you join the RX group as an analyst at PJT, HL, MOE, EVR, LAZ, CVP and maybe PWP, you’re going to have the same amazing opportunities as any other analyst at any of those firms.
Appreciate the input, but your logic is flawed. Comparing exits on an absolute basis between Evercore and HL with Moelis and PWP is not fair from a per capita POV – the former two shops take almost twice as many (if not more) analysts than the latter two. From the few people I was able to scavenge on LinkedIn, both Moelis and PWP Rx analysts had exits on par with PJT, with Evercore and HL having more variance (again due to a bigger sample size). PJT had multiple direct exits into top distressed HFs, followed by Moelis and Evercore third per capita. Lazard had none that I could find. Happy to PM my excel to any future interns to see for yourself
Mind sharing input as to where the other firms stack up (i.e., CVP, JEF, GUG, DUC)? Thank you for your insight.
This is irrelevant but I would think pjt has a more "academic" culture than Moelis (and nearly every other firm/group for that matter) at least at the analyst level
You have not been around many people at these firms then. Moelis/Evercore and CVP/PWP/PJT personalities differ heavily in my experience.
Mind sharing input as to where the other firms stack up (i.e., CVP, JEF, GUG, DUC)? Thank you for your insight.
Stopped reading at moelis tier 1.
Also congrats on moelis
Re: Moelis, what % of the rx work is in NY vs LA? I know they have a large LA office, but was wondering if one office was obviously better for rx
NYC, only one RX MD sits in LA
This feels very dated if you look at who is on the big desirable deals in 2022 and 2023.
Take a look at Envision, Avaya, Serta Simmons, Party City, Diamond Sports, Altera, AMC, DOF, Mallinckrodt, Diebold Nixdorf, BBBY, etc.,
PWP, AND IT'S NO COMPETITION!!!!!!!!! (if u think this comment was posted for you, it was)
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