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
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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GS Restructuring is absolutely not before any of the groups mentioned above. They lost their head of the group last summer and even before that, they weren't that great. They don't do advisory and only do financings. They sit within Lev Fin Capital Markets which is under the financing group within IBD. They're very small - only one summer analyst and one full-time analyst. Exits are not to funds but rather to lateraling to IBD Classic (the traditional industry groups) at GS.
Also keep in mind that Moelis, Centerview and Greenhill are generalist so you're not in a dedicated restructuring team. This optionality alone puts those three opportunities heads above GS restructuring.
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.
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.