Thoughts on Ardea and Broadhaven?
Hi I'm wondering if anyone has any information on Ardea and Broadhaven?
Curious about culture, comp, exits and anything else that may be helpful. Thank you!
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, Ardea Partners seems to have a unique compensation structure where everyone gets a cut of the overall firm P&L. In good years, the compensation for analysts has been beyond what you would make at any MF PE associate role, even over $300k for analysts in prior years. However, if your goal is to move to PE, Ardea might not be the best choice. While Ardea has a fantastic pedigree, it might not serve your purpose if you're looking to transition to the buyside.
The firm is known for hiring experienced professionals, and it's surprising that they're even hiring new grads. Most of the senior guys at Ardea come from GS and most members of the firm did stints on the buyside before going back into the advisory business. The focus at Ardea is on FIG, so you would probably only be on the peripherals of tech through fintech businesses they advise.
As for Broadhaven, I'm sorry, but it looks like this may be out of my ability to answer... maybe some of the links below might help?
Can speak on Ardea - top of the street comp (130k base), great culture and tight knit junior group, not supportive of analyst recruiting.
Thanks, any colour on bonuses?
I have friends at both shops and I think Ardea comp can go up to the 300k range. They don't do bucketing so everyone gets paid the same. I believe Broadhaven is 110k base and around 100% bonus from last year.
I’ve heard hours are brutal. Has that changed?
Absolutely brutal. Associates reply to my networking emails at 2am on weekdays and Sunday afternoons.
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How much dealflow does broad haven get?
Networked a decent amount. Obviously deal flow has been lower than usual, but the impression I got was that it has still been pretty strong especially with the back half of the year
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I work at one and have know people at the other (previous and current employees). These places share roots with GS and are pretty comparable. The focus on culture is strong, especially within the junior teams. They throw non-work-related events and have a lot of your typical events hosted by data providers. Seniors actively encourage team members to get together outside the office.
Compensation levels are similar and above street, Ardea might be a bit higher depending on the year. The transparency into comp at Ardea is more pronounced based on how they pay bonuses. At Broadhaven, it's a bit of a black box until bonus season hits.
Regarding exits, juniors from both places make their way to PE, but there's a bit of a selection bias to consider. Ardea did not have Analysts until a few years ago, only hiring experienced bankers. Both shops attract experienced professionals that want to stay in IB but are looking for a better experience than what a BB or EB might offer. Neither is opposed to junior recruitment, but there's no "2 and out" expectation like at other shops.
Both firms are busy right now. The hours can get rough, but it varies tremendously depending on the senior banker and deals you're on. These boutiques run with smaller teams (2-5 people) for deals that larger banks would staff with 5-10 individuals. Same work, just spread across fewer people.
Do you think both shops pigeonhole a bit more to FIG? I heard both work more on AM, Insurance, and FinTech so might be more EBITDA focused work?
These shops are FIG-focused, 70%+ of deal flow is going to be FIG / FinTech. Juniors are typically generalists unless they want to specialize in a particular vertical. I don't personally buy into the FIG being a death sentence rhetoric that this site echoes, unless you are focusing exclusively on balance sheet heavy companies (depositories, insurance carriers, spec fin) for an extended period of time.
Regardless of the sector you cover, it will become more difficult to switch as you get further along in your career given the specific nuances of each underlying industry. AM/WM, capital-light FinTechs, insurance services, etc. are all EBITDA businesses and are valued with DCFs and EV/EBITDA multiples.
Hours are brutal gets thrown around here a lot but I'm very interested in what it looks like here.
When not on any live deals, is it fair to say 9:30-6 in office with a couple hours after dinner?
When on live deals, are people on many at once? I can see it becoming more of a continuous 9am- midnight in those situations with a customary 11am-midnight on Sunday with a bit more flexibility for dinner and gym.
Is this accurate or would you say it skews much higher? How does it look at VP level?
It’s a bit hard to give a quantified answer that’s meaningful. We don’t do a lot of pitching, I have been here a bit over 2 years and did 1 true pitch but in reality that was a formality for the board (company is PE-backed). Most of our deals are long-term relationships.
I have consistently been on 3-4 live projects at a time since I joined, all in various stages. Right now that is 2 sell sides ( 1 that we are prepping materials for a launch in the new year, 1 that we received round 2 bids last week), and 2 buy sides ( 1 process, 1 bilateral). I have pulled 120 hour weeks and 40 hour weeks, it’s very volatile depending on where projects are. You usually have good visibility into this though since it’s project work, but it’s still banking and you can get blown up on a Friday afternoon.
VPs here start to specialize in a specific sector and align themselves with a senior usually. Depends on your style, most of ours are team players and are deep in the weeds splitting the workload. There are a few that step away entirely from the modeling or slide creation but that’s the exception.
We are in the office 3-4x a week. For most people that’s like 9-10am arrival, 6-8pm leave to go finish any work at home. I am waiting on data from a client and will either have nothing to do at all or will leave the office at 6, hit the gym for 2 hours, then wrap up work at home by 11pm. Last week was a mad sprint on a buy side and putting together a bid summary for a sell side, where I did not do much beyond working all day. If it’s an active time on a deal where it’s easier for us all to be together in-person, we stay late in the office and get it done. People are encouraged to go to the gym or do some other sort of physical activity regularly.
The philosophy is that we are hiring adults who can use their best judgment on how to spend their time to get the work done within a given deadline. My weekends haven’t been all that bad compared to the last bank I was at but could just be me getting more efficient. Again, mainly an all or nothing experience here.
What are the hours generally like?
Just posted a response to someone else above
Are you able to speak more to the comment about Ardea's pay transparency and bonus system, particularly at the associate and up levels ? Is it similar to GS in that one does 5 years at VP before going direct to the next level of MD? It sounds like the promotions may be less of a guarantee than at other banks due to a sharper elbowed culture
Ardea pays bonuses as a % of revenue and provides regular updates on what the revenue is looking like for the quarter, including any potential slippage or upside. There is no bucketing, everyone at the same level gets paid the same and you know what your % is.
I wouldn't characterize it as a sharp-elbowed culture. Promotions are relatively comparable to other banks but less structured. Individuals may be promoted early or skip levels within a title. If someone requires an additional year or two before they are ready for the next title or step within a title, it is not held against them. Titles are Analyst > Associate > VP > MD > Partner, similar setup as GS. I think VP is expected to be anywhere from a 4-7 year position.
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Info on H1b sponsorship - Ardea does not sponsor and will ghost you mid-convo if they know
Ardea has never sponsored. Idk who is making shit up on the other posts saying that they sponsor
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