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So I've networked with a few of the analysts in that office. In terms of deal flow, they're just crushing it. They've been consistently at the top of M&A energy league table. I believe they were number one last time I checked (few months ago). For compensation, one of the analyst said the firm is one of the highest on the street. In terms of hours, it's a sweatshop. I know when one of the analysts started, they never left before midnight. I'm not so sure about their culture. I just know that the people there are incredibly smart. For exit opportunities, I know they placed a guy at encap last year. However, I believe the houston office prefers to analyst to associate promotion. Hope it helps.

 

thanks for the feedback! i have also heard the same things, and that PE recruiting is also semi-secret in the Houston office. Not sure if this is attractive for those not wanting to do IB long-term.

 

I agree with all of the above - I know a few people that work as analysts there and interviewed with them myself. They are super academic and super intense. Once analysts prove themselves they are given a ton of responsibility that you don't get at bulge bracket banks, but you probably won't sleep for two years. Evercore is known as having the best pay and the worst hours in Houston. All in all it's a great bank if you can handle it.

 

Compensation: $75k base first year, $15 sign on if you did SA. Bonus 60-70k. It is among the highest in Houston, it is not the highest. Unless you're recruiting at associate level, just put comp out of your mind right now. It should not be used as even a small factor in deciding on at the SA level, for damn sure, and not even at the analyst level.

Deal flow: MOST of the deals analysts work on are small ones you'll never read about in the news. Bigger deals...sure they get them but some of the analysts there do nothing but small deals. Odds of you getting put on one of those big deals aren't super good. Also, lots of advising conflict committees on a deal that the bigger banks are actually running. Gets deal credit but you're not running the deal, you're just giving your opinions to a committee. Deal credit can be misleading so you can't blindly worship it. It is a midstream shop first and foremost, with a technical team added on later. Most deals will be midstream. Founder and head of the office is midstream guy and he actually thinks upstream is kinda stupid, looks down on it to a certain degree. Think of it this way...It's a midstream shop. It's a midstream shop. It's a midstream shop. And they're trying to build up the E&P side, sure. But the midstream guys tend to do their own thing, the E&P guys do their own thing. Not much working together and most of the power and management of the office is from midstream guys. It's not going to be a powerhouse for E&P any time soon. It's a midstream shop. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hours: Sweatshop is a common misconception, a myth that is prevalent and they laugh about it that they have the reputation of being a sweatshop. They don't care to clear it up. Hours are better than BB. Sure there will be all-nighters and sure there can be late nights. But it is by no means consistent across the board. Some will go through periods of getting crushed and then they have periods of ease where they leave the office at 6 or 8pm on a weekday. Fridays...the norm is you're off at 5-6. Weekends the office is a ghost town. ...not a sweatshop. Midstream guys are more hardcore than E&P...for sure. The senior MD that handles most of E&P...he's in the office maybe 1 in 4 days of the year. He's always out traveling and such. The technical VP's...they come from a much more relaxed background. Petroleum engineers don't work 100 hour weeks. They'll put in long nights at EVR on occasion, but far and away they're leaving the office at an "early" hour. If you're working on midstream stuff, those VP's and senior banks are going to stay later and they're more buttoned down and traditional banker-like. There are definitely 2 separate cultures in the office for midstream and E&P.

Culture: A combination of cultures because the office was built by adding people (at all levels) from various banks. Head of the office is old school banker, white wso/">shirt and tie, hard ass. Everyone will tell you (in and outside of the firm) that he's one of the smartest people they've ever met. Many agree he's a bit intimidating. Other senior MDs are pretty laid back. You could say it's a more fun vibe vs other banks. Fun isn't the right word, but whatever. In interviews you'll get the impression that working conditions are far better, people are far happier than at other banks. I'm not saying this is true or untrue---how could anyone possibly know that unless they worked at a bunch of different banks. But in interviews you'll probably get the that impression. It's not an office of assholes, that's for sure. It's not a stuffy or puffed up place. It will be more relaxed than BB's. Nobody hates life there (consistently, that is; they may hate it for periods of time but just normal IB stress-related anger that comes and goes). If people hated it there, they wouldn't have analysts moving to the associate level.

Exit opps: Listen to what the other guy said about analyst to associate preference. This is a strong preference. They don't want to hire MBA's, they want associates to come from the analyst class. The strong preference is that you stay on as an associate. Think about that for a minute. ....PE exit opps aren't going to be strong with a mindset like that. Also the office is new-ish and there is no history or established pipeline. The comment "they sent a guy to encap last year" is misleading. He got there all on his own. It happened fairly suddenly. Going to PE isn't the trend. Staying on as an associate is the trend. First years don't model. Rather, when you're maybe 10 months in, then you start to get more modeling. But don't expect to be doing much in your first several months, for sure. They're different from some other shops on this. This is not the place for exit opps. I'm not saying you won't get exit opps from there, but you don't choose to work in this office because of exits. This isn't Greenhill where you're just guaranteed a great PE exit. If you exit, you're the minority. This trend may change with time but you'll be long gone by then.

Conclusion: If you want exit opps, go somewhere else. If you want deals other than midstream, go somewhere else. If you want to do big deals, go BB or Jefferies (for E&P sell-side deals--though not for exit opps, either).

If you most likely want to stay from analyst to associate, go here. If you want midstream galore, go here. If so, pay is among the best in Houston and you won't feel consistent soul-crushing misery (like CS). But those two things have to be true if they expect analysts to stay.

*One more time for the cheap seats...if you want exit opps, LOOK ELSEWHERE. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ill-informed or a jack ass idiot.

 
slappyblanco:

Compensation: $75k base first year, $15 sign on if you did SA. Bonus 60-70k. It is among the highest in Houston, it is not the highest. Unless you're recruiting at associate level, just put comp out of your mind right now. It should not be used as even a small factor in deciding on at the SA level, for damn sure, and not even at the analyst level.

Deal flow: MOST of the deals analysts work on are small ones you'll never read about in the news. Bigger deals...sure they get them but some of the analysts there do nothing but small deals. Odds of you getting put on one of those big deals aren't super good. Also, lots of advising conflict committees on a deal that the bigger banks are actually running. Gets deal credit but you're not running the deal, you're just giving your opinions to a committee. Deal credit can be misleading so you can't blindly worship it. It is a midstream shop first and foremost, with a technical team added on later. Most deals will be midstream. Founder and head of the office is midstream guy and he actually thinks upstream is kinda stupid, looks down on it to a certain degree. Think of it this way...It's a midstream shop. It's a midstream shop. It's a midstream shop. And they're trying to build up the E&P side, sure. But the midstream guys tend to do their own thing, the E&P guys do their own thing. Not much working together and most of the power and management of the office is from midstream guys. It's not going to be a powerhouse for E&P any time soon. It's a midstream shop. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hours: Sweatshop is a common misconception, a myth that is prevalent and they laugh about it that they have the reputation of being a sweatshop. They don't care to clear it up. Hours are better than BB. Sure there will be all-nighters and sure there can be late nights. But it is by no means consistent across the board. Some will go through periods of getting crushed and then they have periods of ease where they leave the office at 6 or 8pm on a weekday. Fridays...the norm is you're off at 5-6. Weekends the office is a ghost town. ...not a sweatshop. Midstream guys are more hardcore than E&P...for sure. The senior MD that handles most of E&P...he's in the office maybe 1 in 4 days of the year. He's always out traveling and such. The technical VP's...they come from a much more relaxed background. Petroleum engineers don't work 100 hour weeks. They'll put in long nights at EVR on occasion, but far and away they're leaving the office at an "early" hour. If you're working on midstream stuff, those VP's and senior banks are going to stay later and they're more buttoned down and traditional banker-like. There are definitely 2 separate cultures in the office for midstream and E&P.

Culture: A combination of cultures because the office was built by adding people (at all levels) from various banks. Head of the office is old school banker, white wso/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" sl-processed="1">shirt and tie, hard ass. Everyone will tell you (in and outside of the firm) that he's one of the smartest people they've ever met. Many agree he's a bit intimidating. Other senior MDs are pretty laid back. You could say it's a more fun vibe vs other banks. Fun isn't the right word, but whatever. In interviews you'll get the impression that working conditions are far better, people are far happier than at other banks. I'm not saying this is true or untrue---how could anyone possibly know that unless they worked at a bunch of different banks. But in interviews you'll probably get the that impression. It's not an office of assholes, that's for sure. It's not a stuffy or puffed up place. It will be more relaxed than BB's. Nobody hates life there (consistently, that is; they may hate it for periods of time but just normal IB stress-related anger that comes and goes). If people hated it there, they wouldn't have analysts moving to the associate level.

Exit opps: Listen to what the other guy said about analyst to associate preference. This is a strong preference. They don't want to hire MBA's, they want associates to come from the analyst class. The strong preference is that you stay on as an associate. Think about that for a minute. ....PE exit opps aren't going to be strong with a mindset like that. Also the office is new-ish and there is no history or established pipeline. The comment "they sent a guy to encap last year" is misleading. He got there all on his own. It happened fairly suddenly. Going to PE isn't the trend. Staying on as an associate is the trend. First years don't model. Rather, when you're maybe 10 months in, then you start to get more modeling. But don't expect to be doing much in your first several months, for sure. They're different from some other shops on this. This is not the place for exit opps. I'm not saying you won't get exit opps from there, but you don't choose to work in this office because of exits. This isn't Greenhill where you're just guaranteed a great PE exit. If you exit, you're the minority. This trend may change with time but you'll be long gone by then.

Conclusion:
If you want exit opps, go somewhere else. If you want deals other than midstream, go somewhere else. If you want to do big deals, go BB or Jefferies (for E&P sell-side deals--though not for exit opps, either).

If you most likely want to stay from analyst to associate, go here. If you want midstream galore, go here. If so, pay is among the best in Houston and you won't feel consistent soul-crushing misery (like CS). But those two things have to be true if they expect analysts to stay.

*One more time for the cheap seats...if you want exit opps, LOOK ELSEWHERE. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ill-informed or a jack ass idiot.

Question about a different path: What do you think Associates out of B-School make there? Obviously what matters for them is the pay, and not the exit ops.

 
mongoose:
slappyblanco:

Compensation: $75k base first year, $15 sign on if you did SA. Bonus 60-70k. It is among the highest in Houston, it is not the highest. Unless you're recruiting at associate level, just put comp out of your mind right now. It should not be used as even a small factor in deciding on at the SA level, for damn sure, and not even at the analyst level.

Deal flow: MOST of the deals analysts work on are small ones you'll never read about in the news. Bigger deals...sure they get them but some of the analysts there do nothing but small deals. Odds of you getting put on one of those big deals aren't super good. Also, lots of advising conflict committees on a deal that the bigger banks are actually running. Gets deal credit but you're not running the deal, you're just giving your opinions to a committee. Deal credit can be misleading so you can't blindly worship it. It is a midstream shop first and foremost, with a technical team added on later. Most deals will be midstream. Founder and head of the office is midstream guy and he actually thinks upstream is kinda stupid, looks down on it to a certain degree. Think of it this way...It's a midstream shop. It's a midstream shop. It's a midstream shop. And they're trying to build up the E&P side, sure. But the midstream guys tend to do their own thing, the E&P guys do their own thing. Not much working together and most of the power and management of the office is from midstream guys. It's not going to be a powerhouse for E&P any time soon. It's a midstream shop. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hours: Sweatshop is a common misconception, a myth that is prevalent and they laugh about it that they have the reputation of being a sweatshop. They don't care to clear it up. Hours are better than BB. Sure there will be all-nighters and sure there can be late nights. But it is by no means consistent across the board. Some will go through periods of getting crushed and then they have periods of ease where they leave the office at 6 or 8pm on a weekday. Fridays...the norm is you're off at 5-6. Weekends the office is a ghost town. ...not a sweatshop. Midstream guys are more hardcore than E&P...for sure. The senior MD that handles most of E&P...he's in the office maybe 1 in 4 days of the year. He's always out traveling and such. The technical VP's...they come from a much more relaxed background. Petroleum engineers don't work 100 hour weeks. They'll put in long nights at EVR on occasion, but far and away they're leaving the office at an "early" hour. If you're working on midstream stuff, those VP's and senior banks are going to stay later and they're more buttoned down and traditional banker-like. There are definitely 2 separate cultures in the office for midstream and E&P.

Culture: A combination of cultures because the office was built by adding people (at all levels) from various banks. Head of the office is old school banker, white wso/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" sl-processed="1">shirt and tie, hard ass. Everyone will tell you (in and outside of the firm) that he's one of the smartest people they've ever met. Many agree he's a bit intimidating. Other senior MDs are pretty laid back. You could say it's a more fun vibe vs other banks. Fun isn't the right word, but whatever. In interviews you'll get the impression that working conditions are far better, people are far happier than at other banks. I'm not saying this is true or untrue---how could anyone possibly know that unless they worked at a bunch of different banks. But in interviews you'll probably get the that impression. It's not an office of assholes, that's for sure. It's not a stuffy or puffed up place. It will be more relaxed than BB's. Nobody hates life there (consistently, that is; they may hate it for periods of time but just normal IB stress-related anger that comes and goes). If people hated it there, they wouldn't have analysts moving to the associate level.

Exit opps: Listen to what the other guy said about analyst to associate preference. This is a strong preference. They don't want to hire MBA's, they want associates to come from the analyst class. The strong preference is that you stay on as an associate. Think about that for a minute. ....PE exit opps aren't going to be strong with a mindset like that. Also the office is new-ish and there is no history or established pipeline. The comment "they sent a guy to encap last year" is misleading. He got there all on his own. It happened fairly suddenly. Going to PE isn't the trend. Staying on as an associate is the trend. First years don't model. Rather, when you're maybe 10 months in, then you start to get more modeling. But don't expect to be doing much in your first several months, for sure. They're different from some other shops on this. This is not the place for exit opps. I'm not saying you won't get exit opps from there, but you don't choose to work in this office because of exits. This isn't Greenhill where you're just guaranteed a great PE exit. If you exit, you're the minority. This trend may change with time but you'll be long gone by then.

Conclusion:
If you want exit opps, go somewhere else. If you want deals other than midstream, go somewhere else. If you want to do big deals, go BB or Jefferies (for E&P sell-side deals--though not for exit opps, either).

If you most likely want to stay from analyst to associate, go here. If you want midstream galore, go here. If so, pay is among the best in Houston and you won't feel consistent soul-crushing misery (like CS). But those two things have to be true if they expect analysts to stay.

*One more time for the cheap seats...if you want exit opps, LOOK ELSEWHERE. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ill-informed or a jack ass idiot.

Question about a different path: What do you think Associates out of B-School make there? Obviously what matters for them is the pay, and not the exit ops.

Their associates are A to A promotes. Don't hire b school kids. Also sign on after SA is higher now. Evercore does major deals. More than most BBs, although they do have a lot of fairness/conflicts committee stuff like he said. Pretty spot on.

 

Arguably the top energy group on the street right now, but the group has not been around very long so time will tell. League tables are misleading but last time we did a screen they were on top (prior to the typical manipulation of course). I'm at a BB in Houston and have met a few of the analysts - sharp guys, definitely Type A but surprisingly down to earth (I was told one of the analysts I met was a college QB at Oklahoma but was also told he would be the last one to mention it)

Overall it seems like they have a good culture but if you are looking for exit opps then Barclays/CS have done better given the tenure of the groups. Definitely work brutal hours but so does everyone else in banking. Comp is near the highest in Houston (top bucket first year bonuses were around 80K from what we heard). You will get a mix of backgrounds and personalities at the analyst level - half Ivy League and half UT/A&M or other. Midstream heavy firm but the upstream group has ramped up dramatically in the past few years after the Scotia guys went there.

 

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