What's good with Gordon Dyal & Co?

I feel this is the least talked about and debatably most low-key up and coming EB. They are like an old school 20 man shop cranking out massive multiple billion dollar transactions. A few deals I have found after scoring the web include: 

Advised Bristol-Myers Squibb on its acquisition of MyoKardia for $13.1bn
Advised Amgen on its acquisition of Otezla for $13.4bn
Advised Bristol-Myers Squibb on its acquisition of Celgene for ~$90bn 

...needless to say there is no doubt the firm is gaining a reputation as a leading advisor for complex transactions. I imagine the firm's lean size and focus on high-touch personalized service have been a key part of its success. From the perspective of a junior banker - there is likely no way to break in as an intern and very few chances (if any) to find a lateral opportunity if you aren't personally connected. That being said for those who are able to find there way over there, I have no doubt the experience and exposure is unrivaled compared to any other EB or BB and the comp tops anything we'd consider "top bucket". 

Curious to hear others thoughts and insights. Is GD&C well-positioned to continue making waves? 

 

If they're whale hunters, which is what it sounds like, I can imagine their Analysts having to pitch week after week only to get traction on 1 or 2 deals a year. Not a good sitch for those that value sanity. Would rather a steady stream of $75 - $250M M&A deals that don't require pitching than have to do a new bullshit pitch every other weak and only having like 1 out of every 50 go somewhere, even if they're billion dollar deals. The latter was my experience in IB and it was awful on both a work-life balance and general learning level.  

 

What was your interview process like if you don't mind sharing? I also had HHs reach out about them and considering jumping into the process. 

 

Look into Ducera or Moelis LA office. Awesome deal flow with sane hours. 

lol resentful of the shade since i am recruiting for dyal, but still curious. they do an accounts-based system like Centerview so probably get a work from that  but how the f do they have those insane hours with like 5 deals a year? also on another point they have done 1 deal this year and are in the top 20. so definitely interesting mix

 
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Gordon Dyal was co-chair of IB at GS before leaving and is a killer. That being said, they absolutely whale hunt and their size allows them to only need to complete 1-2 mega deals a year in order to thrive and pay themselves well. They're not exactly a growth-focused firm looking to move up in size/scale.

Not sure I'd go as far as calling their exposure unrivaled to other EBs exactly as teams are likely staffed similarly, just with less volume given their deal flow. I have hear from a 3rd connection who works there that the work can be more tedious often times as they don't have all the resources of a larger firm re a graphics / formatting team and the deal team has to do literally everything no matter how menial. He also corroborated that it is an absolute grind and they do pretty intensive "general advisory" type of work for the Boards of their clients when they're not doing a deal given the closeness Gordon has with them, similar to what CVP does for accounts that aren't transacting at a given period of time.

 

Had a family friend work there. Absolute grind doesn't begin to describe it. Think I heard something like 8AM~2AM hours regularly. Pay has got to be absolute top of street though, can't imagine other banks paying more than them. Look through past Dyal forums and they will corroborate. 

 

Pay is quite literally the top of street and I imagine the seniors are making a fuckton.

Boy, do you work for it though. Like all things in finance, if the pay is astronomical there’s a reason…

 

1 A&A team does all the work that a typical industry + m&a teams would do + no India / graphics support teams or structuring specialist to ping on weird issues. And working on large-cap deals means heavy on numbers so you better be confident you can crank, for own sake

 

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