What is the actual difference between BB vs EB vs MM?

Question

These distinctions just seem super arbitrary and I don't really understand the difference.

Looking at the league tables, Evercore and Barclays have about the same numbers for M&A. Why is Barclays a BB and Evercore considered an EB? Evercore also has equity research/S&T departments, so it's not like they are only advisory (which I've heard people say before is the distinction).

Synergy_or_Syzygy · Accepted Answer

You couldn't find the answer to this anywhere on the internet??

I just Googled literally the phrase "difference between bb eb mm" and found this excellent and accurate article from M&I. Do you have specific questions beyond this?

https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/boutique-middle-market-bulge-bra…</a">https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/boutique-middle-market-bulge-bra…

EDIT: Read the article, morons giving MS. Ranking banks is stupid, and the BB/EB/almost BB/MM distinction is mostly talked about by undergraduate students. You'll never hear the fucking term "Elite Boutique" outside of this forum or the analyst bullpen.

bearxjzf · Answer

The BB vs EB distinction is first and foremost about the size of the bank. While EBs can compete with BBs in M&A and restructuring advisory since those are basically just a specialized form of consulting with capital markets deals like IPOs the massive balance sheets and distribution channels available to the bigger banks can't be beat. Because of this the EBs are more specialized than their BB counterparts and while many offer a wide range of advisory and even wealth management no EB would ever have a commercial side like many BBs do.

MM is more so just a prestige distinction.

Bankerconsu · Answer

The above comment is almost correct, but not entirely. The distinction between EB and BB is very simple. One leverages it's balance sheet for cap market / M*A transatctions etc and has a full suite of other serivces whereas most EB's do pure advisory. That's the distinction.

From MM to BB it's just purely where they play. It's like Toyota versus Mercedes. Yes, part of it is prestige. Mercedes trumps toyta there obvi. The other part is simply that toyota has identified a marekt segment (for IB temrs 2 bn deals) that they can churn out.

In terms of recruiting, MM will land you MM pe spots.

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What is the actual difference between BB vs EB vs MM?

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What is the actual difference between BB vs EB vs MM?

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