Restructuring reality check
Hello friends,
After attending an absurd amount of campus recruiting events (where a flurry of students sweat profusely) and tirelessly trying to networking with these BB folks who don't seem passionate or driven at all, I've really come to the conclusion that I would love to pursue restructuring. The smartest people I know seem to go into this niche and all seem super chill, nerdy, and nice? (I hate bro/fratty culture aka the people you meet from BofA). But like I've heard that RX is super competitive and the culture can be iffy depending on the hours and where you work. I need a reality check on how doable this process is considering I do go to a target school (but not for top RX EBs). I want to know what the culture is actually like, what the stereotypical RX person is like, stats to get in, interviewing process, networking process etc. At the end of the day, how many positions are there even....
I think I need a reality check before I give up on networking with these BB folks. Thanks.
doable since rx cares more about technicals, so more meritocratic
You seem insufferable, so restructuring would be a great fit. Go get that GHill offer!
congrats on bofa
Overall very nerdy and academic culture on average. A stereotypical RX person lives and breathe finance and read Petition religiously. Never met anyone with below 3.9 in RX but its probably doable as long as you have 3.7+. Interview process incredibly technical with minimal to no behavs. Networking process not too different from anywhere else but obviously ask about RX related questions instead of just shooting the shit - Ppl love to talk abt the LME they just worked on. Not many positions as most RX (HL being the outlier) groups take around 10 analysts if not less.
Not exactly how you came up with that conclusion. Would be interested to see how you collected that data because anecdotally almost all the juniors are from hardcore finance backgrounds (basically hardo undergrad bschool or Harvard Econ). It is one of if not the most technical field within investment banking with lots of esoteric modelling and analysis. The lawyers deal with the legal jargons. Not even sure why someone with a background in law would want to be an Rx banker given lawyers actually get paid more in these mandates.
Straight up spreading misinformation
Have a very close friend at a very well-regarded RX group and it sounds like one of the most miserable groups someone could be in. The people and culture sound absolutely insufferable compared to his firms coverage/product groups plus deals take forever to close.
Sounds like LAZ NY or EVR, both RX groups’ cultures are worse than average while the other major players’ cultures are in-line or better.
Yes it’s one of those
Evercore set absurdly high goals for new MDs a few years ago (geez maybe longer now…it’s 2025 good god) and a lot of the cool MDs who kept the toxic dickheads in line left sadly
RX very technical. A lot of the people are pretty much on the spectrum or close to it.
MDs don't have to be "rainmakers" or really have any real BD skills. The flow is mainly inbound from lenders and lawyers.
It's certainly not easier hours.
I would say it's certainly an alternative option if you want a more technical focused role. But you won't build the commercial skillset and your MDs certainly won't be deal makers.
RX has a very important place but don't make the mistake that it's similar to M&A advisory.
For MDs this may be somewhat true but for the few that are rainmakers (be it with sponsor/creditor relationships or on the big public corporate side) you really do notice the difference in the quality and/or quantity of deals they bring in for their firms
Don’t let people scare you in the comments with how much work rx technicals are in my opinion this claim is massively overblown.
I’m a non target who landed EB rx for next summer and would say I was able to learn everything technical wise in around 3 weeks with about 1-2 hours a day of work. The other thing in rx is you need to know a deal insanely well as around half the technical portion is just seeing how well you understand the deal you’ve been following, but this part is basically just all memorization.
The one thing I would say that makes it more difficult is the lack of clarity in good resources. If I were to re do it this would be my plan.
Techicals:
-use restructuringinterviews . Com guides (Specifically Rx Overview, Rx Q&A, Bond Math, Cap Tables, Structural Subordination, Bonus 2021 & Bonus 2022)
- Moyer distressed debt textbook (until page 217 as after that’s all distressed investing stuff)
- Credit investors handbook by Michael Gatto (chapters 14-18)
Deals:
Pari Passu newsletter
Petition 11 newsletter (id recommend buying the subscription while recruiting even though it’s like 60 bucks a month but to me it was worth it)
The brink newsletter by Bloomberg
Thank you so much this is super helpful! Also, any advice on the networking side?
can i pm u some questions?
Sure
I will also add that a lot of the EB Rx groups will ask insanely easy techs to trip you up (like literally what is EV and EqV after buying an equipment). These are easy in a vacuum but if you just cram Rx techs all day and get hit by one of these change ups in the middle of an insanely technical interview u will get tripped up.
How'd you network your way in from a NT? I go to a semitarget but literally all of our alumni are in M&A/capital markets/coverage, so I'm not even sure how to approach trying to network
hi, sophomore here aiming for rx. can i pm you?
Why mention the people first? I think the most basic question is just if you think the work is interesting.
You are going to be hyper focused on executing a few different types of niche transactions. So you're still going to do all of the banking BS, but the underlying concepts are going to be weighted towards capital structures, liquidity, bankruptcy, and debt docs. That will all come at the expense of developing an expertise in a given industry. You'll also probably have a tougher time explaining what a good business actually looks like (at least during my time, most of the companies we worked with were shitcos). If you're contemplating restructuring, just go ahead and read a few chapters of Moyer. If you find that interesting, there's a decent chance restructuring is a fit.
Culture and WLB questions are better suited for specific banks. Even then, it's not like a ton of people are given RX offers with multiple firms of the same caliber, so just deal with those questions when you get an offer.
An RX shop (and the RX scene in general) is pretty damn intense. In my 3 year analyst stint at an EB, I was either working 50 hours or 120 hours with almost no in between. The culture was incredible (my entire analyst class are still my absolute boys) and I didn't feel like it was nerdy at all. Some other EB's I interacted with were different. Seemed to be alot more assholes in the RX world (more below)
My observations: the modelling was so much more complex than anything my peers were doing on the healthy side. Every deal and model scenario was unique so we were starting from scratch (yes a blank excel sheet). Another commenter mentioned that alot of inbound deal flow is relationships with lawyers and lenders. The RX field does require more mental horsepower because there is a lot more to most deals than just throwing a CIM together and taking a deal through a process.
I had to get out of the scene because 1) level of intensity - after I went 120 hours a week for 4 weeks straight on a fucking amendment process, I thought I was losing my mind. 2) I saw only a few few/ no role models across the top of this organization 3) All the stakeholders in these deals were pissed off all the time (debtors, creditors, lawyers, etc). Never seen such brazen disregard for professionalism when a lawyer just started shouting profanities on a call.
Heard about an RX coffee chat where, when asking for advice, analyst just told my friend “don’t apply” and told her to “withdraw it” lol
Heard about an RX coffee chat where, when asking for advice, analyst just told my friend “don’t apply” and told her to “withdraw it” lol
My first Rx contact (top group) also has told me to make sure I really, really want Rx before going for it; he's personally counting down the days until he leaves.
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