What are the best groups in Wells Fargo's IBD in terms of deal flow, culture and exit opps? I know this has been posted here before but the information is pretty old and WF is growing fast so I assume much of it has changed. I'm also curious about the locations of each group for interns as I know some are exclusively New York or exclusively Charlotte.
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Best groups are balance sheet-oriented. Think DCM or LevFin. From a coverage standpoint, some TMT groups do pretty well, and Energy has historically been a strong point for the platform.
The general rule is that most of the capital markets business is in Charlotte, regardless of team. Some groups are sprinkled through NYC, SF, LA, and Houston.
Summered there in 2016. I'll say that most of the opinions on WSO about groups have been weirdly off-mark.
The leveraged finance group really isn't that good-- you don't do too much technical work, you only learn esoteric debt modeling, the hours are long (although not necessarily worse than other groups), and to top it off, you don't even have especially good exit opps, since the group is only based in Charlotte.
The best exit opps are probably in Sponsors NY, probably due to senior connections + more networking opportunities. They actually have quite a few folks going off to Blackstone, Point72, and even KKR a little while back.
The Industrials group has a super chill culture (both NY and Charlotte). TMT and CHG (consumer, healthcare, and gaming) are sweatshops, while M&A is simultaneously a frathouse and a sweatshop.
As a general note, I'd always recommend working in New York over Charlotte. Why NYC? Aside from the obvious lifestyle differences, there are simply more networking opportunities (and therefore exit opportunities) than in Charlotte. While plenty of analysts in Charlotte successfully exit to middle market private equity and whatnot, it's unequivocally harder when a headhunter/PE firm is based 1000 miles away, rather than 1 mile away. Yes, most Wells Fargo groups are based in Charlotte and have a majority of their team there, but the point stands.
Moving from Charlotte to NYC after the summer also seems somewhat difficult; it'd be easier to transfer in the opposite direction.
Unfortunately, my experience tells me that it's rather difficult to get placed in NYC unless you specifically gun for it. Out of 150-200 people in my class, I'd wager that a majority would've preferred NYC, but there were less than 50 slots in NYC, and over 100 in Charlotte. My recommendation? Network aggressively with NYC groups before the sell-day.
Accidentally threw ms at you.
These comments are fair. I would definitely agree with the LevFin comments. LevFin is far more focused on structuring/market comps/distribution risk than traditional corporate finance/modeling-related work.
The LevFin guys are arrangers on a fair number of bond deals, but they can't really do much for leveraged loans since Wells Fargo has a super conservative credit culture and doesn't readily provide capital to those types of companies.
I also agree with the Charlotte v. NYC comments. If you want to stay within Wells Fargo, Charlotte is probably the place to be since more people are located there and internal networking will be easier. For anything outside the bank? New York.
In before "As a former 'investment banking' summer analyst at Wells Fargo Securities" guy
Does anyone have anymore info about the groups at WFS? I've heard that there has been quite a change there in just the last 8-12 months, including the M&A group hiring a big shot senior banker from a BB to head the group and forced half the group to move to NYC, and Jefferies NYC apparently took away a lot of the bankers from WFS Charlotte too. Also read on WSJ that they are going to move into the new Hudson Yards building when it's finished, so I feel like they're trying to grow their NYC presence.
Is financial sponsors in NYC still the best for exit ops? It looks like they along with the M&A group mostly do buy-side advisory, whereas industrials mostly does sell-side... does this effect exit ops? Thanks guys.
Would be interested to get an updated picture also
There is a push to have M&A primarily be based out of NY. All CLT M&A is given the opportunity and encouragement to relocate to NY.
To that effect, there will be more space in the Hudson Yards building, so many groups are looking to expand their NY presence.
Not sure why you think M&A/Sponsors/Industrials are working on different deals. In reality, M&A will be on any Industrials M&A deal once it's in execution phase; coverage groups at Wells bring in the deal and then work in unison with M&A to execute. Sponsors are involved in the deals when seller/buyer is a PE firm, but they really are only bringing the relationships to the table. I don't know of any coverage group (including sponsors) that is executing M&A alone.
the Hudson Yards part is huge indicator on what WF is trying to do with their securities/wholesale business
What is it a huge indicator for? (not from NYC)
Where would you put Wells Fargo IBD NYC (either M&A, Industrials, or Financial Sponsors) against the lower tier BBs like DB and UBS? Especially in exit opps
You are all right that WF levfin isn’t the juggernaut some strangely make it to seem to be on this site. Having said that, their buy side placement is the most consistent (greater mix of debt and equity exit ops). In the last few years they’ve sent analysts to (again across debt and equity) HIG, Ares, Carlyle, Veritas, Gryphon, Goldman SSG, AEA and a number of mid/lower mm pe firms. Regarding location, it’s true that CLT is not great for it. Having said that, the top analysts have the opportunity to do their 3rd (and sometimes 2nd) years in NYC in order to recruit. Outside of that industrials in NYC places the best.
Wells Fargo Best Groups (Originally Posted: 08/21/2018)
Does anyone know what the best groups are at WF for exit opps? I have heard LevFin in Charlotte is strong but what about NY?
Some solid exits from LevFin and Middle Market group. M&A is losing dealflow to coverage groups. Consumer, healthcare & gaming group is strong, as is Industrials and Real Estate (Eastdil is one of the best practices on the street).
Should note that i'm not the most bullish on WF.
Energy comes to mind first. Strong book lending to energy companies across the spectrum (E&P, midstream, OFS) and drives in business.
Going to stick with my area of experience and not comment on any other groups.
Any updated information on this? Specifically comparing groups in NYC vs Charolette. Thanks
Bump have to rank preferences for upcoming SD would appreciate new insight. Which ones have good pay/WLB in NYC? And decent deal flow? Is wells that bad at M&A?
Bump
How does ranking preferences indicate a super day?
I got the superday invitation and had to register for it. In the registration, it asked to rank my group preferences. It wasn't just a random group preference survey
TMT (tech SF)
Could anyone elaborate on dealflow, culture, and exit opps for this group specifically?
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