Stifel vs Croft & Bender vs Stephens vs BlackArch Partners
Hey everyone, I attend a semi-target in the south (think Vandy, Duke, Washington & Lee) and have recently decided to pursue investment banking. I'm far in the process with the above banks and have an offer from one of them for SA 2024 (Stephens is accelerating for me).
Could someone please rank these banks in terms of exit ops/comp/prestige.
Thank you!
Edit: I want to go PE in general in the long term; I get that none of these will lead to MF PE now.
I’ll be honest it’s extraordinarily unlikely to go to a MF or top HF out of any of them. Which groups and cities?
Stifel- generalist St. Louis.
Croft & Bender generalist Atlanta.
Stephens generalist Atlanta.
BlackArch Partners generalist Charlotte.
Stephens, easy decision.
Disagree with the "easy decision" comment below.
Stifel has a very small IB presence in STL vs. other offices, so I would steer away from that for that reason.
BlackArch wins better mandates than Stevens IMO in the middle market, particularly among sponsor exits. Because BlackArch is very integrated with sponsors (on both sides), you will get better exposure than you will at Stevens, which should help with placements IMO. Also, I think Charlotte > Atlanta, but realize others may not agree.
Stephens is the choice here…
None of these will get you to top PE/HF.
They’re all pretty similar, would decide based on city you’d like to live in.
I get that now, if I wanted to go Atlanta would you take Stephens or Croft & Bender?
Croft and bender seems like a regional boutique, while Stephens has a presence across most of the country.
Have heard that Stephens is pretty sweaty though. Would do research on culture and also look at where analyst exits from both have been to.
Stephens is definitely superior.
Over stifel or just Croft & bender?
All of them. Stephens actually has a respectable presence.
BlackArch is not well known on this site but consistently places analyst classes into PE. If you want MM PE you can easily get from BlackArch.
Used to work at Stephens. Can confirm super sweaty and Atlanta is a decent amount of specialty FIG but also has business services (terrible culture). Common exit for ATL is Roark Capital, so MM definitely on the table. Interviewed at BlackArch. Heard they have good PE exits but also very sweaty.
Duke a semi target..lol
Are people really giving MS saying Duke is not a target school? What am I missing
BlackArch is legit and will get you into MM PE. It will also get you good M&A reps that you can use to lateral to top banks if you chose to. Would think carefully when choosing between Stephens and BlackArch.
Firm’s whiter than a suburban mom’s wall paint though.
Do people lateral from Stephens to larger banks?
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