Shakeup in Houston
Historically, Baclays/Citi/CS have been the strongest banks in Houston but is this still the case? Bad senior comp at Barclays and bad culture, huge turnover at CS, etc.
Heard better things about Wells (good E&P), MS (poached Barclays' A&D team and just hired 2 senior bankers from Greenhill, good placement this year), Jeffries, other boutiques.
With all the movement at the top, for someone interested in Houston IB, would it be smart to stay away from these formerly "top" firms in houston, or are Barclays/Citi/CS still the strongest? General comments on the landscape in Houston in 2015 and beyond?
Dude use the search bar. This has been discussed heavily over the last few days. I would not go to Wells. Where did MS place? It's not a top bank for exit ops.
Energy IBD in Houston has indeed been the WSO flavor of the week.
Yes it has... Feels like the real estate boom... When even your grandmother starts posting on WSO about Energy IB in Houston, maybe it's time to jump ship...
Wells A&D team is still building and are landing some good deals...stay away from Barclay's imho, and Citi is also rebuilding their A&D team...I know a few of the senior guys and from what I see and hear, it should be a pretty strong team...Jeffries probably has one of the best most laid back cultures in Houston atm
Very constructive reply...feel free to give your input if you gonna quote me on something at least...also I am referring to their A&D group mainly
I think MS placed into EIG & Denham, I know a few at least interviewed for Encap, though not sure how those turned out. Next year one to Blackstone and maybe others? But I guess I wouldn't call that amazing if they place 2/5(?) last year.
A lot of people speak about the negatives of Bar/Citi/CS currently, but as an analyst, I'm not sure how much it affects you if you are looking towards PE exits and all the recruiters/HR teams are used to interviewing analyst from those groups...
Barclays and Citi are left lead on midstream.
Me and the oil & gas regulars have written extensive posts on the last two Energy IB threads. Use the search bar.
If you want to "stay away" from Barclays, Citi, CS it's because of either:
Note: I'm not too familiar with Jefferies A&D culture but their overall culture leaves a lot to be desired. Most laid-back in Houston? Lol. I'd give that to TPH or Evercore but most banks have lots of laid-back guys.
Extra Note: Just a heads up for all you people who don't go to an energy target school...a lot of banks are speeding up their recruitment process. Goldman already gave out several offers, and a few other BBs are looking to move their process up.
That's interesting. It was already earlier than NYC but getting even earlier...
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Away from the energy IB boom out in Houston... what do you guys that are out there know about forex jobs? An old family friend on my wife's side has done amazingly well out there with forex trading. Started Wells, and has been poached a few times by some big firms, and has a pretty basic background (target state school in TX for undergrad and MBA). I know that Dallas is becoming quite the finance world, but didn't know how "differentiated" the opportunities are out in Houston. Mostly energy IB, or are there other opportunities?
I heard HSBC is killing it
Stay away from Citi or Barclays at your own discretion. Multiples threads and overall consensus is that they are still the top bulge bracket banks in Houston and in energy and will be for the foreseeable future and their buy-side placement is reflective of that. Other than that, I know that Barclays just raised base pay for Associates and above, their compensation for top level Heads or MD might be suffering but at the Analyst to Director ranks it is still extremely competitive.
For Jefferies, there are two different answers to the questions as their team is very divided between the Upstream / A&D team and the midstream / MLP team.
The upstream / A&D side is an absolute sweatshop, no doubt. The laid back side is the midstream / MLP side. A first year analyst or associate will get farmed out to either one, most likely starting primarily on upstream / A&D and moving over to midstream / MLP if they are a strong player and the (relatively small) midstream / MLP team likes them.
Hours are still strong, but the midstream guys work 80-90 while the upstream guys get crushed (think leaving after midnight regularly on Fridays). At the more senior analyst and associate levels, you will be 100% dedicated one way or the other. Jefferies is in the final stages of hiring a senior associate from one of the bulges for its midstream team and he has a guarantee that he will be midstream / MLP only. He comes from one of the Big 3 MLP shops (Barclays, BofAML, C). The recruiters went out and got this guy based on his midstream experience and had to give him this guarantee to keep him away from the hell that is Jefferies upstream.
On either side (upstream / midstream), you will get paid at a level that makes the bulges look like a joke. Many senior associates and VPs are jumping from bulge to smaller firms because of the strong energy (especially MLP) market and the ability to get away from the capital markets, low pay and too much red tape.
KMP-KMI was big, but a lawyer run deal (barc and Citi). Rich Kinder ran this deal. BHI-HAL sounds like it has legs if it passes regulatory barriers (GS and CS). Big time to be in Houston.
How do you know CS and GS are going to be involved in it? Was that ever made public?
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