Chartwell Financial IB Reputation
Hi everyone.
Ill be graduating from a nontarget school this spring and eventually want to end up in private equity. I was late to the game on summer analyst interviews a year or so ago and missed the big bank recruiting. I worked as a summer analyst this past summer at Chartwell financial and got the return offer.
What do people think about this firm? Can I make a transition to private equity from here? Also, Im coming in as a valuation professional. They primarily work with ESOPs, and they dont let people join their investment banking team anymore. Any thoughts on thier investment banking reputation, thinking I could request to change over in a year?
Thanks for your help!
Gonna be honest never heard of Chartwell and they're in my backyard lol. Regardless, you're on a good track all things considered. I can't speak for the internal dynamics, but it doesn't hurt to express a strong interest in IB and look for opportunities to shadow or contribute to their workflows just to get reps in.
A couple years ago I would say it's not as hard as you think to lateral from a boutique valuation shop to a MM IB team with decent deal flow. These days the market's a lot tighter for lateral opportunities. I coach students and young professionals in the same boat as you, and the playbook I would give is:
Chartwell is an odd place. It really is an ESOP valuation and accounting firm at heart, investment banking is a secondary revenue stream. The head of IB is not impressive if you interact with him and the firm is known for running narrow processes that allow investors/buyers to get good businesses at a discount to premium valuations (compared to say, MM IBs).
I've always found many of its employees to be socially awkward, with the best and more normal ones lateralling to MM firms. That would be my recommendation - grind it out for a year or two until the IB market is improved and then try and lateral to a higher quality bank. It's been done before as they've sent analysts to Harris Williams, Houlihan, Triple Tree, etc.
Are there any good people left on their IB team? You mentioned the head being not that impressive, IB as a secondary revenue stream, and more normal bankers lateraling to larger MM banks. It sounds like there's a few headwinds here, but at the end of the day, not a ton of firms are hiring right now
That is true (lack of options), but the experience at Chartwell is not going to be on par with even Tier 3 MMs (Stout, BGL type groups). That being said, it is still transaction experience and good exposure, even if the process dynamics are not reflective of how MMs run theirs.
I spent time recruiting there and still connected with a few people that work there / left in the past year or so. Here's what my experience was / what they're saying:
Pros:
They're pretty model intensive and focus on training, so you have the opportunity to sharpen excel skills. I think their training program is 6+ months, so you're taught a lot. The culture is really great and it's definitely more of a relaxed finance firm than others. Everyone is generally really nice there, but like a comment said above, a bit strange to interact with... If you like ESOPs, they have a great reputation in the marketplace. I think they just bumped their first year pay in the past year to be more in line with market, but still below street (as expected with a boutique). The HR lady is a sweetheart and always willing to chat with people looking for a career move
Cons:
IB is not their primary focus area or even their second coming behind ESOP advisory (not sure what advisory means and I guess this isnt a con in general but more of a con if you want IB). The group head is unimpressive (along with most of the MDs), just like a comment mentioned above. Like the topic mentioned, they don't hire into IB anymore, you have to spend over a year in valuation which really discouraged the more motivated finance undergrads. I've been told a lot of the sharp IB personnel all left the firm or is planning to leave the firm and lateral to MM, PE, or something else. These departures weren't just analysts, which is always expected in banking, but associates, VPs, directors, and MDs. As a result, Ive been told morale is at an all time low, interns & first years are reneging on them, and people are questioning management / lots of people looking to leave. They can't win M&A mandates unless there's an ESOP angle (ie ESOP company selling) or its a very much LMM deal. ESOP work has its own niche but if you want to transfer over to PE you wont get as much credit as another candidate from MM or above bank
The cons make it sound pretty bleak but overall its still a fine firm to work at, probably just like any other regional boutique. If you want PE, itll be much easier to lateral upmarket and recruit from there. Thats what I recommend, but hey, at least you have a job in finance that pays well relative to other professions starting out of college!
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