Chicago Scene 2019
Any updates on the Chicago banking scene in 2019? I can try and aggregate recent posts below;
- GS (FIG presence)
- JPM (Industrials, small C&R presence... mostly sourcing(?))
- MS (no junior level talent anymore)
- Blair (Does very well in HC and TMT... C&R is also supposedly good, but not talked about as much on WSO... Lost some good "culture" MDs to Guggenheim)
- Baird (Industrials is top notch for MM)
- Houlihan (Food & Beverage is sought after, healthcare is a crushing workload... is restructuring active in Chi?)
- Mesirow (Paper & Packaging vertical generally mentioned as nice stuff)
Open to any thoughts / discussion... Chicago is obviously a much different scene than NY / SF
Houlihan does have Restructuring in Chicago. Think it’s pretty well-regraded (not a prestigious as NY but still)
GS has industrials
...
evercore
How is BAML Chicago compared to other cities like NY, Palo Alto and LA?
Industrial coverage in Chi town. I believe some DCM as well.
Ye. So generally speaking, is BAML Chi not as good as other locations?
Greenhill has industrials team that takes 3 analysts every year and then feeds 1-2 to Madison Dearborn Partners every year
To give more color on recent exits:
Analysts who started summer 2016: 1 to Pegasus Capital, 1 to Golden Gate Capital
Analysts who started summer 2017: 1 to Thoma Bravo, 1 to Silver Lake, 1 to MDP (starting next year)
Lincoln International
Piper has a smaller office there too, a lot of DCM
How is BMO in Chicago? Read they were expanding a lot lately but was wondering how they stack up
Real estate is the best for placement and has sent some kids to mega funds in recent years. Lev Fin and FCR are solid in Chicago as well because they are able to capitalize o the legacy Harris bank relationships to get business in those areas.
Lazard - significant restructuring of office as a result of senior banker departure to Guggenheim and Sempra Energy; restructuring and Laz MM seemingly unaffected
Moelis - newer group in same building as Lazard; diverse offering of coverage groups; affable group of people; sweaty; strong mix of individuals from elite business schools
Goldman - supposedly strong group; doesn't recruit out of business school
Barclays - enjoyable group of people; mix of industrials, packaging, education technology and sponsors work; focused on life outside of the office; healthy balance between major business schools in area
Baird - outgoing and relaxed; do well in the Chicago market; more of a diverse offering similar to William Blair; again, healthy balance between major business schools; headquartered in Milwaukee but focused on Chicago market
Blair - great culture, new building, similar diverse offering to Baird given that the firm is actually headquartered in Chicago; strong mix of elite business schools representation
JPM - a phenomenal group focused on automotive and diversified industrials; focused on building out M&A practice in Chicago to compete with Citi; small C&R practice; Booth HEAVY
CS - extreme turnover; office is also dominated by Booth; packaging and industrials work; weak culture relative to other BB banks based on my interactions
Citi - largest BB presence in Chicago; global head of M&A sits in Chicago; healthy balance between top business schools, obvious focus on diversified industrials; young MD's who began career in Chicago
BAML - focusing on mid-market practice; nice team; IU heavy; new tower under construction
Lincoln - small office with limited opportunities; smart individuals; not personable
Perella - relatively new office; historically taken a summer associate but strong A2A retention may limit needs in future
Evercore - small office; maybe will increase in size to compete with Lazard/Moelis moving forward
MS - senior bankers; no junior banker presence (interesting approach, IMO)
Houlihan - didn't recruit here; strong RX practice obviously; heard summer internship yield isn't the best
BMO - headquartered in Chicago (US-based operations); strong committment to Chicago; quite a few former UBS bankers; many bankers with military backgrounds prior to business school
Wells - no significant presence; hired an MD from JPM to focus on Chicago presence moving forward; rumored to be relocating Charlotte-based resources from regional investment bank to assist in development of Chicago office
Guggenheim - three MD office (one from Laz MM, two from Blair); VP from Wells; commitment to Chicago market; will be interesting to monitor growth of office
Greenhill - 3-4 MD office; commitment to Chicago market since recession; new MD from JPM (ED to MD promotion in transition)
Each of these platforms executes out of Chicago.
would add Macquarie: small office focused around Education Technology and other niche sectors - few MDs hired several interns
UBS: think a few MDs at least not sure about junior presence
Deutsche - still have a small presence believe its industrials focused hires mainly from Big Ten schools
Goldman also does hire juniors quite often especially for their FIG group which has a small presence in Chicago along with their more established Industrials
to add, UBS has a few analysts in the office. They work with mostly Chicago-based deals, but are on other deals as well.
Rayjay FIG/ Industrials
Heard JPM (Lev fin) has presence there. So does DB industrials Don’t know if either teams still exist.
Can confirm Lev Fin has presence but no analysts, only associates
False, buddy of mine is an analyst in lev fin at JP chicago
How about XMS Capital Partners? Seems like they do some high profile deals and MDs are all ex-MS and the likes
Good connections in automotive and life sciences industries. Had a superday with them but went with a more well-known firm for brand. They are a good group, lean teams and have multiple billion dollar deals to their name in the past couple of years. Indeed they split from MS just like how MoCo/EVR/etc were formed. They just don't have quite that level of traction. Their recruiting is very informal. I got interviewed by every member of the team starting at the bottom by reaching out to an alum
What are these guys actually doing? They aren't leading any of these large deals.
Anyone know anything about Blair exits?
There should be another thread on these forums in which Blair exits were recently discussed. With that said, the firm has insanely high analyst retention and appears to place well in the MM private equity scene. You’ll get an occasional placement at UMM depending upon coverage group.
Someone feel free to correct me if I’ve misspoken. Most of this is anecdotal, as I lived with a Blair analyst for a year.
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