Top banks for Power & Utilities M&A? (2026)
I am very interested in the P&U space and want to understand which banks actually provide the strongest M&A experience within the sector.
For example, Morgan Stanley’s P&U group is considered one of the best on the Street, but the M&A execution is handled by a separate centralized M&A team, so you do not necessarily get direct M&A experience within the industry group.
Also, some banks bundle Power & Utilities with Oil & Gas. In several cases they are very strong in upstream O&G but not as strong in regulated utilities, renewables, or transmission and distribution.
Other questions: Also can anyone confirm if any bank covers P&U (not O&G) from Houston? Any insights on RX for P&U???
RBC PUI
I thought the coverage groups at RBC don't do M&A internally...
PUI, FIG, Real estate hold pen
Some groups definitely do. And some sub-groups do within broader teams that don't.
best group
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That one seems like an extremely good team. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) presentation is one of the best decks I've ever seen
where could one get their hands on this deck?
JEF
seems O&G heavy, have not heard anything good about P&U
Correct - all O&G and no P&U (at least in Houston)
Pretty much all P&U groups at BBs are good (JPM, GS, MS, BofA, Citi).
I think they stick P&U as a vertical under the “Natural Resources” group at JPM and GS, but the vertical is only covered in NYC. The O&G side is covered in HTX.
Laz is the EB with the best P&U group. They call it PEI.
Three out of the four big Canadian banks also have a decent presence in the space (Scotia, TD, CIBC) but CIBC is more project finance than M&A.
Scotia NY lost all relationship managers in a year and currently has no senior banker on that team
Damn I didn’t know that. Rip
Interesting. I feel like BofA/Citi/JPM are too "coverage" style. External teams will hold the pen on complex transactions.
From what my friend in the JPM NatRes/P&U team has told me, they definitely hold pen on complex transactions there
Was told by multiple people at BofA that NET holds the pen on transactions even in NY
CIBC closed 13 power sell-sides last year
Believe Guggenheim has a solid Power / Energy Transition team that sits in Houston (apologies if im wrong here). Don't ever see these guys on anything traditional O&G so seems like a good group to get solid Power reps outside of NYC.
Have no idea who holds the pen on modeling though - would assume they do given it's specialized nature.
Yes, they cover O&G and Energy Transition in HTX but they also have a dedicated P&U group in NYC.
Ahh good to know - group naming makes that unclear
Not entirely sure how it works for split between NY/HOU but I’ve seen they’ve been poaching some seniors across energy/power/infra for the last year or so now. I’m more so interested in their new(ish) infra coverage
Seems like a solid team as well. I believe they also pouched a few senior bankers. Pretty sure they hold the pen.
Morgan Stanley Global Power and Utilities (GPUG) handles all of their modeling in house. It’s one of a couple groups at MS that do which is why it’s very highly regarded
Great info.
Lazard handles P&U from Houston along w their NYC team since they don’t touch a lot of trad O&G
Interesting... what I don't understand then is how they split work between the PEI team in NY and Houston. I'm guessing staffing depends on where the client is located.
Could you also shed some light on work splits for RX transactions ? What's the role of the PEI team, if they are working on a RX in the energy/utility sector?
The group is integrated, all sit under one group head, some deals are cross staffed across offices, NY team does majority P&U work, while HOU covers majority O&G and will work on some P&U, think of it as a major and minor style staffing
Scotia covers P&U out of Houston and Toronto.
And NYC
There’s no RM in NY.
Any info on Evercore's P&U vertical?? How does it compare with Lazard's PEI??
Top power group, was on most of the big power transactions recently
Calpine's lead advisor? Yes, that was huge.
Do you know if P&U is covered from NY or HOU? Seems to be NY.
How would experiences differ in Lazard PEI vs. Evercore P&U?
Houston Banks that cover P&U include Scotia, Lazard, Roth, Baird, and Pickering Energy Partners. MS and TPH also covered some. JEFF has an ET group.
Surprised no one has said Moelis. See them a lot on utilities deals
Can anyone comment on the CIBC EIT team?
Have seen them on a lot of sellsides in renewables and gas fired power some pretty big ones too
Houston coverage: Citi has a strong P&U team in Houston (not O&G). Also Barclays. Also Credit Suisse (now UBS) has some coverage.
MS's Houston office is mostly O&G but the new combined group means you'll work across both. If you want pure P&U in Houston, Citi is your best bet. Also Tudor Pickering Holt if you're open to boutiques. 🤠
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