Curious if there's an updated view at the end of 2020. How did various groups do during the peak COVID days and who's best positioned for the future? And how does culture compare? Specifically interested in PJT, Evercore, Moelis, Greenhill, Lazard, and Houlihan as well as any others that dabble in the space (Centerview?). Thanks!
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Would first preface by saying that this is all fairly subjective, especially since restructuring league tables are notoriously inaccurate (reporting is highly inconsistent, many advisors remain undisclosed, out of court transactions are a black box, etc.). At the end of the day, all of these groups are great and all of the analysts are getting cranked, so pour one out.
Currently an analyst in one of the above mentioned groups, so below is my perspective on each of the firms and their business, based on my personal experience and supplemented by those of my friends, and Debtwire and Reorg reporting. I'll tick through some of the tiers / firms as I see it, open to others' thoughts.
Here goes, in no particular order:
Houlihan: Kings of volume. One of the go-to calls for creditors and increasing presence on debtor reps. This hasn't changed in the pandemic. #1 on deal volume, definitely near the top for deal value, broader range on deal size (low ~100m deals) than others due to the size of the group.
PJT / Moelis: Present on some of the most high profile cases, doing very well, likely top in terms of deal value. Both pretty quick on the rescue financing train post COVID. Balanced split between debtor / creditor.
Lazard: Stalwart debtor advisors, crushed it on the big high profile retail cases earlier in the year, solid energy deal flow too. Big in sovereign RX advisory too.
Evercore: Great practice, bit of a slower start from my perspective, but doing well. Lot of sponsor restructuring deal flow.
Greenhill: Less momentum than previous cycles, wider range of deal sizes. Have had varying success this round but have won roles on some notable cases.
Centerview: Dark horse this cycle. Much smaller practice than the others above, but they're on a surprisingly large number of high profile / deal value cases. Great representation per capita and some very good momentum.
Perella: Crushing the energy RX game. This cycle really showing their investment in TPH down in Houston is paying off. Solid deal flow in other sectors.
Guggenheim: Present and active this cycle. On some big names but not as active as the other groups above, although I have limited knowledge here.
Rothschild: Don't know a whole lot about these guys. Along with Lazard, usually lead in sovereign advisory mandates. Got debtor side for Chesapeake with Intrepid, which is a big win. Haven't seen them around on many others though - open to others' opinions.
Jefferies: Not a large player in restructuring these days, have had some success in out-of-court workouts. Feel like strategic priority of the firm has shifted towards the origination / syndication of leveraged loans as opposed to restructuring advisory. I view these as fundamental opposites and the concentration of UCC mandates (vs. traditional debtor / creditor reps) further supports this.
Ducera: Relatively newer name and coming out swinging this cycle, higher concentration of creditor reps but certainly gaining momentum and a strong contender.
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Happy to give perspectives on any other firms people are curious about.
Thanks for this! Can you comment on Jefferies in relation to the above?
Sure. Updated original post above for organization purposes. Again, just based on my personal opinion / experience.
Would say generally accurate. Can add on to Greenhill in that most deals 500mm-2bn (couple recent examples involved in AMC, ascena, Cirque du soleil, Revlon), so while maybe not on the absolute most high profile cases the deals are still notable
Those are good examples, thanks - updating post accordingly
AMC and Revlon are some of the highest profile cases out there...
Do you have any experience working with or across from any of the restructuring “boutiques”? I was thinking firms or groups like GLC, Gordian, Miller Buckfire, or B. Riley. I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on these
GLC is a tier ahead of the other 3 listed - worked with them a few times on the opposite side of the table and have generally been impressed by their people and work product.
Fine post. I'd just add the caveat that the groups on your list can win a pitch on any given day. The concept of "tiers" is ridiculous, so thank you for not using them. There just seems to be this idea that PJT never loses a pitch to GHL, and that's just not true.
What are you're thoughts on Miller Buckfire? There are relatively conflicting posts on here and the rest seem out of date.
They've got a strong legacy, but are a shadow of what they once were. Admittedly don't know a whole lot about them and don't have first hand experience working across from them, so anyone with better knowledge please feel free to jump in. I believe their core team joined Centerview prior to the sale to Stifel.
Quick Debtwire search (note: records are far from perfect) shows three cases in 2020: debtor side for Techniplas and TNT Crane and UCC rep for Sable Permian.
Still a decent firm, but their heyday was 10+ years ago when they were one of the strongest Rx shops out there. A lot of their alumni from then are scattered throughout the Rx groups at other firms nowadays.
Definitely have solid brand recognition from their history and they leverage the broader Stifel platform relationships, but won’t typically see them on the most high profile deals anymore.
I heard Jefferies got some big MDs recently but would love to hear further thoughts
Slow night? Ha. For real, this is money. Thanks for throwing this together.
I'm an An1 at an EB in M&A. Here's my rough perspective and I feel it's generally accurate for RX:
Tier 1: Houlihan Lokey, Evercore, PJT
Tier 1b: Perella Weinberg, Lazard, Moelis
Tier 2: Centerview, Rothschild, Greenhill, Guggenheim
Tier 3: Jefferies, Ducera
seems about right, according to the RX analyst from above
Think this is accurate as well. Believe firms in 1b don’t recruit specifically for Rx as an intern (unless that’s changed) so need to keep that in mind
Lazard is not a tier below the top 3 you mentioned. They're highest ranked for debtor mandates over the last decade or so and have better dealflow than Evercore for sure. Lazard is probably the best all around RX franchise on the list so it's pretty dumb to tier them below those top 3.
Why the MS?
Why the MSs?
Poster above touched on the general performance of the rx advisory groups, but if people were wondering about the actual analyst experience: (source -- work at one of the below as an analyst and have friends at the rest)
PJT: Pretty much the most sought after banking analyst role at target schools period. This is mainly bc it checks all the boxes that college kids like circle jerk to. Pay is top of street (about 200k all in first year) in line with evercore, and the group feels "exclusive" because they have some of the hardest and most technical SA interviews and only take 8-10 kids a year, usually heavily skewed towards top targets; the whole group itself is only around 50 people. Because of this they've retained a lot of the "blackstone preftige" from before the spin off, while the same can't necessarily be said for the M&A group. The exit opps are pretty much the best of any banking group out there mainly because the group is so small and the analyst program is strictly 2 and out so senior members are heavily supportive during recruiting. Literally every kid goes to a large cap PE fund or top credit / equity hedge fund. In terms of actual work experience, heard analysts here get a lot of responsibility, but culture is good and hours are pretty chill. Knew a guy here that only worked like 70 hours a week and usually got at least one of the two weekend days off.
Evercore: Another heavily sought after rx analyst program. Although the group was launched in the last decade, the Evercore name holds a lot of weight on campuses and the top kids are always interested. Because of that the exits here are also great, even though the firm itself does a lot of energy work and isn't as big of a presence in the rx world as pjt / hl / lazard. Have heard hours here are brutal, but hey, you get paid top of street (around 200k) and the group is growing rapidly and doing well, so definitely an exciting time to be a part of it.
Houlihan: A restructuring OG and a creditor advisory giant that's on almost every mandate. Their name value on campus is kinda diluted by their MM M&A practice but everyone that's truly interested in RX knows that houlihan is a phenomenal place to be. Pay isn't what the top EBs offer, but a ton of people say HL has the best culture of all the big restructuring shops. Exits are good, but they also have the most A2As of all the top rx groups.
Lazard / Moelis: Only grouping these two together because neither runs a separate recruiting process for their rx teams in NY. Instead, summer analysts are recruited as generalists. At lazard you may get placed into the rx group as one of your two summer rotations, and at moelis you stay generalist throughout your analyst program. Because of this, although lazard and moelis have great rx practices and get great analysts, the kids that are most gung ho about rx will usually favor pjt / evr / hl where they know for sure they'll be in a restructuring role. Pay at lazard has historically been lower than the rest of the EBs and pay at Moelis is highly variable -- top bucket analysts are in line with evr / pjt, but bottom bucket is more in line with BB comp. Know people doing rx work at both lazard and moelis and work culture is absolutely brutal with extremely long hours and demanding senior bankers.
All the other reputable banks with decent practices: Ducera, Guggenheim, Greenhill, PWP, Jeffries and others. Lots of interesting acquisitions / turnover history leading these firms to where they are today (PWP bankers leaving to form ducera and the lawsuit, Many of jeffries senior rx bankers leaving, guggenheim acquiring millstein, etc.) These are all good places to be, but analysts here usually struck out at moelis / laz / pjt / evr / hl. Pay varies, but is decent, hours and culture aren't great, and exits can be hit or miss. There's a decent amount of work to go around right now so they still get to work on interesting mandates, albeit usually on the creditor side.
Thoughts on PWP RX - no Oil & Gas? Also, does the fact that PWP does a lot of Oil and Gas RX affect the exit opps for analysts?
You seem very knowledgeable, do you know how return rates compare in these shops?
aren't Evercore and HL RX NY classes very small as well?
Does PJT have a similar push out for associates too?
Generally accurate post, will just chime in here as the Moelis RX group actually has great senior bankers and a good culture...certain industry groups are absolutely brutal though.
hello moelis rx analyst
You're shooting 50%
More insight into Jefferies RX group lately? They poached a partner and an MD from PJT and Evercore, and added more junior staffs in the team
Also curious about if there is an update on Centerview's status in RX world. Incoming SA and wanted to see what people's thoughts are
I think highly of CVP. Have worked across from them on a few things now and know they've had key roles on pretty landmark projects like Intelsat, Garrett Motion, McDermott, Serta Simmons, Equinox and McGraw Hill.
They only have like 3 partners in the RX group, so they tend to be pretty selective in the opportunities they chase (you won't find them pitching everything under the sun). The generalist platform is probably the best part about the program though, since you are able to go where the activity is.
I think they have 5 now, judging from the website. Also interesting how they all come from formerly Miller Buckfire one way or the other. Thanks for the insight
Didn’t Evercore advice Serta? Were they on the creditor side?
Are you incoming SA into the RX major specifically or m&a? Heard they use a specialization based generalist program
Could you elaborate on this? I am pretty sure I am entering as an M&A specialty but I want to work on a fair amount of RX as well. Does this mean I won’t be able to touch RX unless I commit to it?
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