RX Rankings 2022 - Can we please get restructuring rankings for the benefit of students and incoming interns looking to lateral

Rather than just conjecture ranks with no logic, here are some performance statistics. Here were the debtor advisors for the top 10 largest Chapter 11 restructurings of 2020 - the largest YTD of the decade for restructurings, so far (omitted Thai Air and Digicel for non-Ch 11) 

1. $Moelis - Hertz ($24bn)

2. $Evercore - Frontier Communications ($22bn)

3. $PJT - LATAM Airlines ($18bn)

4. $PJT - Intelsat ($17bn) 

5. $Guggenheim - Ascena Retail ($13bn)

6. $Rothschild - Chesapeake Energy Corp ($12bn) 

8. $Evercore - McDermott ($10bn)

9. $Lazard - Valaris ($8bn)

11. $Houlihan Lokey - Seadrill ($7bn)

12. $Seabury - Norweigan Air ($7bn)

Generally, I think its reasonable to say all of the firms here do good work, and the repeat names (PJT 2x, EVR 2x) are repeat names for a reason

More generally and in loosely specific order within tiers

Tier 1 (in alphabetical order so nobody gets butthurt):

Evercore, HL, Lazard, Moelis, PJT

Tier 2:

Ducera, Centerview, Guggenheim, Jefferies, Greenhill, PWP, Piper Sandler

Tier 3:

Miller Buckfire, Rothschild, Raymond James, Baird

Tier 4:

GLC Advisors, PJ Solomon

Tier 1 is self explanatory, the best restructuring banks that you’ll see at least one of on every sizable mandate.

Tier 2 is mostly self explanatory with some notes that:

1. Ducera is only in Tier 2 because they haven’t been around long enough to solidify themselves in the same way as the banks in Tier 1, but with their current foothold they’re definitely on track.

1. Jefferies might lean towards UCC mandates (that I don’t understand the stigma around, they’re still valuable restructuring experience and allows Jefferies to punch well above their weight) but has a strong pipeline of mid to smaller sized debtor mandates.

1. PWP is a shell of its former self with the entire restructuring team leaving to form Ducera and has by no means recovered.

1. Piper Sandler Rx (fka TRS Advisors) has a strong enough team (ex-Roths) that it deserves Tier 2 in my opinion but hasn’t been around long enough and gotten on enough deals to warrant it being above any other firms in the tier.

In Tier 3:

1. Miller Buckfire is hanging in there, getting a few legit mandates here and there but most of the team has been poached elsewhere, many to Centerview.

1. Rothschild is in the same situation as Miller Buckfire but fell from favor more recently - the final nail(s) in the coffin was losing the employees that went to form TRS and losing Neil Augustine to Greenhill. Haven’t seen them in anything in a while but have heard they’re still strong in Europe.

1. Raymond James is a decent Rx bank for small sized restructurings (mostly debtor side as well), but have never seen them on anything sizable ever.

1. Baird has poached some higher-ups from reputable firms but have not seen them on anything yet. They’ve got the potential, just remains to see how they execute.

From Debtwire for FA's on number of US in-court deals with prepetition debt over $250m for 2021 (all roles):

1.  HL

2.  FTI (doesn't really count)

3.  Tie between Lazard and Rothschild

5.  Moelis

6.  Evercore

7.  PJT Partners

If you rank by debt size it's HL, Rothschild, Lazard, Evercore, Moelis, PJT (excluding FTI here).

In any case, every time this thread comes up it's always the same names with people arguing who is "Tier 1" and "Tier 2" despite the fact that the industry is so small it's always the same 8-10 firms at the top competing against one another.

I interned in RX last summer and think the bottom line is that if you are interested in RX you will go and recruit for all of the top 8 groups or whatever. Then if you land only 1 offer (quite likely given the odds), you will take that group. If you are fortunate enough to land 2+ offers outside of the other exploding (relatively unlikely / don’t know many this has happened to) then you obviously have to make a decision. As this thread alludes sometimes it will be clear PJT vs. Jeff etc. Otherwise just go where you like the culture / vibe and don’t split hairs between EVR vs HL vs LAZ it is silly.