Genuine Question: why are Pjt and HL RX teams considered better than MoCo RX?
Got to know this recently from some league table info while playing around.
All three above mentioned shops have approx 30 RX deals announced in 2021. Value per deal is significantly higher for Moelis and they have apparently worked on 7 of the 10 largest US restructurings in 2021. Given this, why do people on this forum consider pjt and HL RX teams better?
Ps: I do not work at any of the three above mentioned firms nor do I work in RX. Just genuinely curious about what other factors are in play.
It’s not only the deals you do (ppl do the same mistake for M&A deal), but also the role you have. Are you advising the security fulcrum or the company, shaping the deal, or are you advising, for example, the equity doing a simple valuation to try to challenge the deal, or are you advising the RCF bank which will be taken out, etc.
This is why league tables are total crap
Can't sleep so I will bite this one.
The reality is that when students compare different offers, they are not looking for a shop that leads league table, rather for a great analyst experience and most people consider PJT/HL RX better than Moelis for a variety of reasons:
1. Exits: PJT/HL RX (especially PJT because of their 2-year program) are two of the groups with the best exits on the street. Considering their class size, their placement is ridiculous. For selection bias, most people will aim for distressed/credit arm exits but MF PE is also very double (Houlihan has sent one to APO PE for a few years now)
2. Culture/Hours: I do not work at PJT/HL, but those two have the reputation of having a very good culture and not insane hours. People there are extremely sharp and there is no facetime culture. Let's just say that Moelis is behind on this point.
3. Group selection: you could not recruit specifically for RX at Moelis until this year (believe they have split recruiting starting next year) while you could for the others two. Kids interested in RX would have no reason to do a generalist program rather than one in which they would be certain to have a RX experience. Lazard is an amazing RX platform as well, but because of its generalist program, it is not the goal of most top students interested in RX because of group placement risk.
4. Class size/Reputation: PJT and HL have a 10ish class size and they are extremely selective when recruiting. If you are not at W/H, or part of Global Platinum Securities getting an offer will take insane skills/prep and definitely some luck. I think their small size gives college students an idea of a high reputation that is not comparable to Moelis given their much larger class.
In reality, the experience at the best RX shops (PJT, HL, EVR, LAZ, Moelis) on the job is very similar, but college students (the very few who can pick among these groups) have their reasons to decide what is best.
This hit the nail on the head. The perception from the undergrad level is definitely based on known exits and a few specific individuals that go into RX. Given how tight-knit some of the target schools can be with investment clubs, people will shoot for PJT RSSG just because they see the “smarter” upperclassmen go and not because they’re genuinely fascinated by restructuring. PJT has had a known issue with talent retention at the intern level with almost everyone interviewing/aiming for megafund PE or a SM HF over the summer. HL is better in this regard, but not clean either. Reality is smart kids that know what they want will go where they want, and smart kids that don’t know what they want will default to the firms pitching their exits in a slide show.
From the industry perspective, I will add legacy is a factor as well. HL has been here since the late 1990’s with some of the original notable folk. PJT had spun out of Blackstone’s a couple years back, but I would say Moelis has less of an apparent legacy outside of Ken. There are some deep relationships across the board, but everyone knows about the HL holiday party.
This is exactly true. For PJT RSSG its almost comical how they pretty much recruit from specific clubs rather than universities themselves. The WITG / GPS pipeline is very real and even at the other schools like NYU / Columbia / Georgetown / Notre Dame / Michigan that they fill their non Harvard Wharton spots with are always kids from the same investment clubs at those schools. The underclassmen in those clubs see the best seniors going to the group and immediately it becomes a highly desirable job. The comment about retention is true as well -- the RSSG intern class is literally a fishing pool for all the MF analyst programs especially KKR and Warburg. It's no surprise that its the most desired banking analyst program at the top targets.
Couldn’t have said it better myself - “MF analyst fishing pool.” It’s also not to say that MF PE jobs are “better” or more stimulating, but again a function of sheep following a pack to the hot job. You’re already seeing that a bit with hedge funds as well. Some of my peers at DK and other hedge funds have started hiring out of undergrad, and I can’t help but think the majority of hires don’t even understand the risk profile of a HF vs. that of any other asset manager. I also can’t imagine hiring someone direct from undergrad based on 2 hours worth of interviews as opposed to a multi-month internship - won’t be surprised if these new seats are like P72’s prove yourself in 12 months or you’re out.
I have a hunch a couple of these banks, especially restructuring boutiques, will start scratching their heads soon asking themselves why it’s harder to recruit smart undergrads. They can’t genuinely believe that every person that’s skimmed Moyers and can regurgitate a bankrupcy case has a real interest in doing distressed as a career. Probably better off saving seats for non-targets with a real passion than the smartest kid looking for the greener grass.
This is so spot-on. I went to a top target and was one of the few guys in my class interested in RX freshman year. As soon as PJT/HL came to campus, everyone was reading Moyer and was ready to say RX was their true passion lmao
H definitely does not send kids to PJT RSSG. PJT RSSG pretty much only takes kids from W, Y, O, C or LSE.
Source: Went to PJT RSSG from Oxbridge.
Deleted
Given your post history it is more likely I went to Harvard and will be first hire at Apollo PE out of undergrad
I dont know about London but the NYC RSSG class's schools are public knowledge, and of the 5 schools you listed, only Wharton has any placements since 2012.
x2 rssg from nyu this year tho
Does Lazard become RX specific at the associate level?
Global Platinum Securities is an absolute powerhouse of an undergrad organization
not sure who sent MS, this is very true especially for PJT/HL Rx where they have a very very solid pipeline
Bump, anyone expand on differences on other generalist rx groups like laz/pwp vs hl/pjt/evr?
Probably make it as a separate post in itself
Waiting for my comments to be turned so I will take a quick jab at this since my roommate and I are both in RX but one went through a generalist program and another in RX-specific internship and FT.
Fuck MoCo that's why. PJT and CVP are the only "old guards" or ivory towers left in IBD.
Lazard is over 11 times as old as CVP
And PJT was only established like 6 or 7 years ago
How do Greenhill RX and Rothschild RX compare
clearly below - are you looking for something in particular?
HL RX should raise base...
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