Background: Notre Dame sophomore looking into Investment Banking internships/jobs in Chicago.
Was wondering if there was a list or if people had suggestions of top IB firms and groups to start networking with.
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Was on vacation there and tried to set up some coffee meetings but couldn't find a ton, ended up connected with a few alumni. Seemed like William Blair had the largest presence from what I could see on linkedIn but I could be wrong.
Citi Chicago has the largest office of all the BBs in Chicago. Following would be GS and Barclays. MS no longer has junior staff in Chicago, only coverage MDs.
William Blair, Baird, Harris Williams, etc. are all reputable MM firms with large offices/headquarters in Chicago.
Harris Williams doesn’t have an office in Chicago.
Barclays - TMT GS - Industrials Citi - Industrials Houlihan - Restructuring JPM - Automotive Macquarie - Education Moelis - Telecom, but they do some other stuff Blair - everything
Evercore, Rothschild and PWP are in Chicago, but all are 1 year old so not sure what their deal flow looks like yet
Bump
You would be remiss not to include BMO Capital Markets.
100+ bankers (30+ MD/Ds) on IBD side in Chicago. Full coverage groups across Industrials, Food/Consumer, Real Estate. Sizeable LevFin & M&A group presence.
Greenhill Chicago is a solid shop for PE recruiting. They have a rather small analyst class every year (around 2-4?). Prior placements at solid UMM funds like Golden Gate and Pegasus. I know someone went to Warburg Pincus NYC (a little while back). Also from what I've heard, the outgoing analysts this year are heading to Silver Lake and Madison Dearborn.
Blair hands down if you want to stay in Chicago long-term. Baird is a step down, but very strong presence in Chicago
William Blair seems like a good shop. I interviewed with them in school, was impressed with the culture/feel of it . . conservative, no nonsense approach. Not chasing the latest fad, just building their business in a slow and sustainable way.
I've heard good things about Moelis in CHI. Know a couple ppl who've been through there for internships and FT, all have said good things about it. They worked hard but learned a lot and liked the people.
Ditto for Jefferies, people pretty pleased in that office (by banking standards).
Lazard CHI blows, everyone hates it there. Somewhat true of the whole bank but especially CHI.
I'm less familiar with JPM/UBS/CS, except to say that they all hard large Industrials teams in Chicago when I was in school there 7-8 yrs ago, and they recruited heavily, but I don't know if that's applicable today.
I heard HC was growing there. But then again without Sage doing wife swaps to win business like back in the day, maybe growth has stalled.
Bump
Baird hardly takes any interns in Chicago and most people will usually forward you to folks in Milwaukee to talk to.
WB only hires ND athletes because there are a couple MDs that were former athletes there, but it is the best place based in Chicago.
Lincoln is growing but have been on this site for the wrong reasons. HL is good for IB too, but restructuring is their strongpoint. Same goes for Lazard.
GS, Evercore, BAML, CS, MS all have a notable ND presence in Chicago, with Citi, Moelis, Greenhill, PWP having less of one from what I have heard.
Look into some other Chicago and midwest-based places such as Triple Tree, Stout Risius Ross, XMS, Marathon, Loop, Madison Street, Ziegler, etc. All these places are especially strong in some areas.
P.S: B.R. is sure to reprimand you for not talking to him first.
HL's Food team is its best Chicago group. Rx is stronger in Minny and NY.
You skipped some other decent MM boutiques and went straight to some dogshit shops. Loop and Madison Street are straight trash. TT is in Minny, which makes no sense if he is asking about Chicago.
I am sorry, but this is completely inaccurate. I work in Chicago and have friends at all these banks. Please only post here if you really know information and if that information is current. There is so much out dated information on this thread.
Bump
Most any Chicago bank culture > any NYC bank culture.
Midwest is just a different vibe.
Successfully finished recruiting for Chicago:
Lazard - opportunities with both Laz and Laz MM; met a few individuals who left Lazard for BB in Chicago based on the culture of office in Chicago.
Moelis - newer group in same building as Lazard; diverse offering of coverage groups; driven and affable group of people; certainly work hard; nice mix of individuals from top business schools
Goldman - supposedly strong group; didn't recruit at MBA level
Barclays - enjoyable group of people; mix of industrials, packaging and sponsors work; focused on lifestyle, healthy balance between major business schools in area
Baird - outgoing and relaxed; do well in the Chicago market; more of a diverse offering similar to William Blair; mix from various business schools; headquartered in Milwaukee but focused on Chicago market
Blair - great culture, new building, similar diverse offering to Baird given the firm is actually headquartered in Chicago; target schools include Harvard, Penn, UChicago, and Michigan.
JPM - a phenomenal group focused on automotive and diversified industrials; focused on building out M&A practice in Chicago to compete with Citi; UChicago HEAVY
CS - extreme turnover; office is also dominated by UChicago; packaging and industrials work; not as friendly and outgoing as Citi and JPM at the BB level
Citi - largest BB presence in Chicago; global head of M&A sits in Chicago; healthy balance between top business schools, obvious focus on diversified industrials; young MD's
BAML - focusing on mid-market practice; nice group of guys but IBD platform, nationwide, has struggled over the past several years
Lincoln - small office with limited opportunities; smart individuals but not too personable
Perella - brand new office; taking 1-2 summer associates; not much else
Evercore - small office; maybe will increase in size to compete with Lazard/Moelis moving forward
MS - senior bankers; most summer associates had offers transferred to NYC last year
Houlihan - didn't recruit here; strong RX practice obviously; heard summer internship yield isn't the best
BMO - headquartered in Chicago (US-based operations); strong committment to Chicago; quite a few former UBS people; many former military bankers
Wells - no significant presence; hired an MD from JPM to focus on Chicago presence moving forward; will be on par with Perella in terms of size in the coming years