I know this has been discussed before. BX, LAZ and HL lead the pack. Lately, there has been some senior banker musical chairs in the restructuring space and I was wondering how people would rank the tier 2/3 Rx practices at banks.
Rothschild, Jefferies, Greenhill, Evercore, Millstein, Miller Buckfire, Centerview, Moelis, Guggenheim, Imperial Capital, Chanin Capital, GLC, & Ducera(ex-PWP).
Top Restructuring Investment Banks
Restructuring bankers serve troubled businesses that are facing, coping with or recovering from bankruptcy. The AlixiPartners 2017 North American restructuring experts survey reported the following
With nearly half of restructuring experts (49%)
predicting more restructurings in the US in 2017
and 57% anticipating more restructuring activity
globally, 2017 is shaping up to be another busy year
in restructuring. As 2016 proved, the restructuring
industry will be prepared to do its part.
Industries such as Retail and Oil & Gas lead the list of sectors most likely to face distress. So, which banks will companies call upon for restructuring advisory services? Here is the Wall Street Oasis users' favorite ranking.
fratrick.bateman
- 1st tier: HL, Lazard, PJT
- 2nd tier: Evercore, Ducera, Moelis, Millstein, Rothschild
- 2.5 tier: Centerview, Greenhill, PWP (if they still have any restructuring presence), Guggenheim
- 3rd tier: Miller Buckfire, Jefferies
- 4th tier: others (Imperial, GLC, etc.)
Millstein, Evercore, Moelis restructuring have been growing quickly and proving themselves (from a junior perspective) for exits and deal flow.
Ducera has the potential to be top tier but is so new so havent proven themselves in terms of exits and is therefore a bit risky for entry level positions.
Centerview, Greenhill, and PWP(?) still do the occasional deals and not necessarily as strong in restructuring but the generalist program plus the general prestige should be great for any exits offered to 1st/2nd tier (from an exits standpoint alone, they are definitely 2nd tier or above but 2.5 tier due to dealflow).
Miller Buckfire is dying, all senior bankers leaving, and their rainmakers all left for Guggenheim, which in turn has potential to be in 2nd tier. Jefferies is stronger in restructuring than their other groups, but its still MM focused.
The Restructuring Deal Table aligns closely with this opinion. Take a look at the table from
Here's my list, which is based on quality of rx practices (I.e. quality of engagements, seniors bankers, etc. ignoring general firm quality and things like exit ops and junior culture/comp)
I have heard GHL will be pretty much out of the business after losing their cohead to Ducera fwiw.
I would put GS' RR group before a lot of the ones you listed as an entry level job opportunity. Not a traditional restructuring advisory job but places well and does interesting work.
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Interesting abt GS RR. Is this the same with other BB RX teams? i.e Barclays and JPM. I know CS clubs their LevFin Origination and Rx groups together and have also heard they barely do any Rx.
Really don't like BB huh?
BB Rx is basically a non-factor in this discussion
You are not statutorily permitted to advise on a restructuring if you have underwritten for the company in the past 3 (or so) years, so BBs - which all broadly participate in bookrunning, etc - have difficulty (i) being in a position where they are allowed to advise and (ii) even if they are, cannot demonstrate significant credentials / experience
Curious to hear others as well.
Guggenheim has done a ton of hiring recently, would put them on par with the bigger guys. Haven't heard Rothschild on a deal in forever.
If you have access to Debtwire, search all the bank names and you'll see deals they're on. Rothschild was debtor on Sports Authority and Alpha Natural Resources and is currently debtor on SunEdison. I think Guggenheim does mainly creditor with some smaller debtor side engagements, but they are definitely growing/hiring.
Agree with above, not sure what you're looking at but Rothschild has been all over the place the past couple of years.
Also, hiring volume doesn't necessarily equate to quality. Personally, ive seen Guggenheim on a bunch of pitches but haven't seen them on more than maybe 2-3 major restructurings. (I don't know anything about middle market restructuring so maybe they're better in that space?)
Buck fire is dead at this point. CV took the founder and his guys... then it's been a slow burn of losing people since. At least one of the new Guggenheim MDs came from backfire
Moelis is also close to burning out. That group is struggling and having a lot of issues internally
Perella is a real up and comer that people are excited about
Lazard is the standard when it comes to RX.. they are the equivalent of GS/MS tech in SF or MS M&A in NY
PJT is doing fine and is finally building out a creditor practice
One of the most difficult things about ranking restructuring groups and activities is that on a lot of transactions, even very large ones, the entire thing can be kept under wraps. Obviously people working on the deal and other insiders in the industry have a good idea about who is doing well in the area and who isn't, but a lot of these firms work on engagements that the public will never know about, or might just hear rumors about.
I know for a fact that several places that are listed as non players or tier 2/3 players by hive mind on this post so far are working on several billion+ restructurings that will probably never be publicly disclosed.
I'm always surprised by the contrast in perception of banks from the college student perspective of WSO and people within the industry; half the time it appears they are polar opposites.
Exactly. I work at a distressed HF. We hire advisers for groups/committees long before anything is public. I guess the gossip rag debt wire might leak some stuff but that doesn't go into league tables (to my knowledge).
How would people rank if it were based on things like exit opps, culture, comp, etc.?
I second this question!
can anyone comment on the same but for London/Europe?
Houlihan "used to be" very strong in London Roth is an English bank so its hard for me to believe they are bad (though headhunters have tried telling me they have fallen off) Someone also tried selling me on Evercore as an up and comer in London Not sure about Moelis or PJT
Still not entirely clear what the difference in work is between what RX consulting firms (Alix/A&M/FTI) do and what RX banks (HLHZ, Lazard, MB etc..) do.
My guess is the consulting firms would be more operationally focused (i.e. operational turnaround, credit facility negotiation, payables, deciding what assets to sell/product lines to divest) where the banks would be more focused on the capital markets and balance sheet aspects (running asset/product line sales, recapitalization, debt to equity swaps etc.) is that the case or is there more overlap?
Sorry don't mean to thread hijack.
The way I like to explain it:
Rx consulting (Alix/A&M/FTI): Income Statement focus Rx banking (HL/Laz/MB): Balance Sheet focus
Rx consulting is about improving overall profitability of company operations. How to increase revenues, cut costs, etc. Rx banking is about restructuring the balance sheet, specifically how a company is capitalized, to allow the company to continue as a going-concern. How to renegotiate covenants / payment schedules on debt, finding ideal capital structure and sourcing new capital, debt for equity swaps, etc. There is some overlap (i.e. how much a company is levered-B/S, estimating mandatory interest payment capacity-I/S) but in general the roles are split.
To add in terms of actual work flow. RX consulting (Alix) will be way more in the weeds. It will be looking at very granular financials and for example actually reading/negotiating various contracts/payment schedules, determining the actual required head count, cost benefit analysis of specific projects, etc. Its basically keeping the company alive. RX banking (HL) is more high level conceptual of how a company should be strategically positioned. It's navigating the process, raising money, negotiating with bond holders, equity holders, etc. Really its high level consensus building. The work would be creating various hypothetical structures based on valuation and managing the process.
correct
i want to update the tiers based on my opinion:
1st/top tier: HL, Lazard, PJT 2nd tier: Evercore, Ducera, Moelis, Millstein, Rothschild 2.5 tier: Centerview, Greenhill, PWP (if they still have any restructuring presence), Guggenheim 3rd tier: Miller Buckfire, Jefferies 4th tier: others (Imperial, GLC, etc.)
Millstein, Evercore, Moelis restructuring have been growing quickly and proving themselves (from a junior perspective) for exits and deal flow.
Ducera has the potential to be top tier but is so new so havent proven themselves in terms of exits and is therefore a bit risky for entry level positions.
Centerview, Greenhill, and PWP(?) still do the occasional deals and not necessarily as strong in restructuring but the generalist program plus the general prestige should be great for any exits offered to 1st/2nd tier (from an exits standpoint alone, they are definitely 2nd tier or above but 2.5 tier due to dealflow).
Miller Buckfire is dying, all senior bankers leaving, and their rainmakers all left for Guggenheim, which in turn has potential to be in 2nd tier. Jefferies is stronger in restructuring than their other groups, but its still MM focused.
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