GCA Savvian
Hi, I was wondering if I could get more info on GCA Savvian. How's their rep? Exit opps? Deal flow? Comp? Thanks
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good exit ops to other investment banks.
^What Ibanks? Like GS/JPM Ibanks or like Jefferies.
What about to MM PE? Do they have a good rep on the street?
Yea I'd be interested to learn more...street cred...culture...watevs
but their west coast group (tech focused) is pretty decent and their guys tend to go into various WC boutiques, mm & bb.
..lazard, thomas weisel and jpm are some examples
savvian itself is an okay firm, not quite evercore and but definitely not stanford financial group
I enjoyed meeting with them and their NYC office is pretty fucking sweet. Small analyst class of like 5-6 (this past fall), believe they were mostly kids from Dartmouth...I think the dealflow is ok, but where they really do well is in Japan.
I'm sure the exit ops are pretty decent. Most of their senior guys come from great backgrounds, so its probably a good place to start your career.
are they on the same level as Peter J Solomon, Oppenheimer, and Broadpoint Gleacher?
Piper Jaffray used to be better than GCA, but I think it's on a slightly different tier now.
I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of where GCA Savvian stands in terms of tier, and also how entry to PE and/or b-business would be like afterwards.
They are decent, like a tier below TWP, Cowen, the bigger MM at SF.
The people are really nice though, and I am sure you will get some great deal experience there although the size is usually small.
exit opps to pe are not good
This is the worst of boutique and bulge bracket. MDs THINK they're still bulge bracket and expect juniors to work comparable hours, but reveneus/quality of deals is akin to lower boutiques. Reveneus for 2009 were $16MM for the US and projected to do $19MM for 2010, with 22 freakin' MDs!!! That's pretty pathetic by any stretch. Consequently, noone got paid and rats are fleeing the ship. Analysts through VPs have resumes out, only a matter of time.
On top of that senior exec team has an heir of superiority that isn't justified/earned and doesn't care about junior professionals. It beats not being employed but not by much. Lots of pitching no deals getting done. Some quality senior people but few and far.
They do have nice offices tho and c
^^ its "air" of superiority not "heir" ... and you sound like a disgruntled employee if I knew one
Is the above criticism/rant more or less true? Any other thoughts?
interviewed with them in fall for FT. very chill guys, both from SF. Easy interview, dcf, why ib, 1 brainteaser. how many cows does mcdonalds kill each day.
pretty simple.
I know two of the MDs who are building out London... PM me if you want to know more...
I interviewed at GCA Savvian's SF office and loved it. The guys were awesome and the office itself was sweet. Pay is on par with the rest of the street, and deal-flow is solid. Interview was pretty easy - basic questions about DCF, trading comps, and one brain teaser (I also got the how many cows does McD kill / year).
Hmm.. sorry, what is a trading comps? How should I answer to that question?
untrue. they pay 65 base and just reimburse moving costs (not 10k)..cant imagine bonuses stack up to BB. Also got the mcdonalds question...was kinda funny
lol they ask the same brain teaser? or maybe you guys are from the same school?
hmm...did not know about the lack of 10k signing - that would be a deal breaker for me if I did not already decide to go elsewhere.
GCA Savvian vs. Financial Technology Partners.
Who is the winner?
I would say GCA Savvian on that one...they get better deal flow, especially if you are interested in digital media, or cross border shit.
This is one of the stupider posts on WSO.
As someone who read this post prior to receiving an offer, it bothered me how inaccurate it was.
First of all, pay is standard for investment banking, 70-80-90 scale for 1st-2nd-3rd years, respectively, with bonus that is generally on par with bulge bracket averages.
Comparing it to Piper Jaffray and FTP doesn't make sense in either case, and it's easily better than both - see the recent transactions page or read the bios of every MD if you disagree. Also, its definitely a tier above TWP (prior to acquisition by Stifel), Cowen, et al. Maybe the firm as a whole is not yet on the same level as Evercore, Greenhill, etc., but the MDs could work at any one of those banks if they wanted to so the experience a junior person gets is first rate.
Deal size varies as it does at a lot of boutiques, but their clients are legit (i.e. they advise a lot of large public co.'s buying high growth firms to drive business)
Exit opps to PE, VC and other areas of finance are fine, particularly on the west coast as their MDs have worked at top firms.
Nearly worked there but chose DCM at bulge instead.
I kind of have to disagree/agree with you on that one kidthatbanks
I am not too familiar with pay
But saying that it's better than Piper is kind of an overstatement, piper is still active in some areas
The bios of the MD is good, mostly former MS tech people from what I remember, which means the firm probably has good relationship in the tech / start-up places ( I remember seeing GCA on a 300m deal if I remember correctly)
Saying that it's a tier above twp and cowen is definitely an overstatement though, I am not sure why you say that but it is nowhere near evercore/greenhill if you really look at the background of MDs in those two shops
Not too sure about exit oppos.
Basically, I would put them in the same tier as twp,piper, cowen, a good boutique firm with several notable transactions and the size of the firm will probably give analysts a good learning experience.
It's still a great opportunity for someone coming out of college though, but I think you are definitely overhyping it.
I have heard two different pay numbers for first years...65k and 70k. Anyone have an actual number on this?
lol 65k base. understreet. i rejected non-street.
Its 70 first year...I have the offer letter to prove it...and they told me the 2nd and 3rd year pay was 80 and 90, respectively.
bump
I don't know how good they are as bankers, but I had an offer from them last year and really, they were very classy during the recruiting season. They narrowed down the field quickly to those they were interested in, hosted a fantastic private room dinner to get to know the firm (instead of those bullshit 'info sessions' held at a hotel) and the guy (SVP) who was in charge of my school was really smart in how he interviewed me and how he tried to manage the offer from his end. Ultimately I choose a BB offer but they did everything to woo me... even offered a year in Japan after I did a year in SF to learn up. I think its a good place and you can do really well there and be treated nicely.
Spoke with a VP there a few days ago and he was very classy. Definitely listened to what I had to say and gave me some great advice. I can imagine it would be a great place to work and it's definitely a firm that will be high up on my list when recruiting rolls around.
why so classy? lol... how bout hours/lifestyle and exit opps.
Anyone know what the superday is like for GCA?
superday is good. 50/50 tech/fit. guys are great and office is top floor at 150 California.
offer is 70k with bonuses similar to BB's. doing a lot of deals (1 per week), good exit ops and great people to work with.
Above post is correct. One of my best friends works there.
How do buy-side firms (hedge funds more specifically) look at a firm like this? They are a pure M&A advisory firm.
Their SF office has nearly 45 bankers, which is more than most/all BB's here on the west coast.
bum,p
last one.
I heard they advised Blimpie on their purchase of Miami Sub Shop. Was a huge deal!
good internet and digital media boutique. That's about it. Your exit opp is going to corp dev or lateral
As a client, I found their West Coast team terribly arrogant. Having worked with MS and UBS in the past, I found the shrimp at GCA act like they were doing me a favor. Had to dump them in the end and change firms.
how are they now? i knw ppl going to the SF office and hes interested in PE...the above posts seem to say that they primarily place into VC?
Bump to analystmonkey's question just above. Lifestyle seems poor from inside intel. Buddy told me they think they're bulge but don't have infrastructure for it. I.e., terrible lifestyle. From having trolled LinkedIn, doesn't look like off the charts amazing exits.
bump, anything new on them?
bump
GCA-Savvian (Originally Posted: 10/23/2013)
Haven't read much about this firm on here recently and was wondering if any new insight could be shared. I've been in touch with them recently and didnt know how to perceive the opportunity. What kind of exits would it provide? Would it be a somewhat easy lateral to firms like Evercore, Lazard, Centerview, etc. from here? I know it's been done in the past, I just didnt want to pigeon hole myself by leaving my current BB role (non-coverage/M&A), for a smaller one that will give me sufficient M&A experience for the sole purpose of lateraling to an elite boutique or PE fund. Is that a smart move?
don't lateral if you are already at BB Banking. Are you serious?
dont comment if u have no idea what u are talking about.
Well I'm at a BB working a role that I don't plan on pursuing for a career, and that doesn't give me the opportunities that M&A would. I've only been here for 4 months and wanted to make the move before I became too specialized in this product, thus making me less attractive of a candidate. Also, I don't think it is THAT easy to make a move from BB to elite boutique, given that the boutiques are that much more exclusive.
He's clearly in ECM/DCM which is shit compared to coverage/m&a/LevFin.
I know that it sounds weird, I just assumed that it would be hard to market myself for the elite boutique given that I have zero experience in M&A, especially being a lateral hire. I have no deal experience to speak of. So you think its a better choice to just go straight to the EB without M&A experience? Rather than to GCA to get exposure first.
Haha actually it's lev fin
And even if it were ECM/DCM, that only supports my point to go to GCA for experience first, idiot.
Why this hostility?
I would not recommend a lateral from a BB anything to GCA. Try some sort of internal move first- to coverage/M&A, and if this doesn't work then look to other BBs/direct to EB.
I called someone an idiot because a random dude said I was probably in a crap group, like ECM/DCM, without even considering the fact that if this were true, that it would be pretty good reasoning for me to post this thread in the first place. Maybe people shouldn't bash other people, but rather give polite feedback, and then there would be no need for hostility. Because if I were in ECM/DCM, and read that comment, I would actually have been pissed and my comment would most likely have been beyond hostile.
They have a couple of ex-MS & Robby Stephens bankers running the shop in NY. For the last 3 years, they've had -16% revenue growth in their home market of Japan vs 35% growth in the US (no idea what their deal flow is like). Unless I was on the street looking for experience, not sure if this place has any upside to the role/shop you're in now.
Awesome, thanks Red, that's the kind of response I was looking for. Saying something sucks, just because, is not good enough reasoning for me. Glad you could provide some stats.
GCA Savvian investment bank (Originally Posted: 11/01/2015)
GCA Savvian
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