Greenhill (Dealflow, Comp, Exit Opps, Culture)

Hi everyone,

I have several questions regarding Greenhill. It seems that the company took a hit in the past few years, so I was wondering if any current analysts/associates at the firm (or other people familiar with the matter) could address a couple of things:

Has the deal flow fallen significantly since the company’s prime?
How does the current comp compare to the rest of the street?
How are the exit opportunities at the firm at the present moment compared to the other EBs and BBs? (Mostly interested in recruiting for PE MF)
Current culture and hours?

Many thanks!

 

Hi Luv Ur Mom and IRR, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:

  • Greenhill, Evercore and Lazard in Houston? How are the elite boutiques in Houston? I've heard that Greenhill has great placement but no ... dealflow, Evercore has great dealflow but limited placement and I haven't heard much of anything about ... and TPH? evercore greenhill ...
  • Elite Boutique: what potential exit opps are available? Lazard, Greenhill, Evercore, Blackstone, Moelis boutique greenhill exit options blackstone lazard ... Have offers from some of these boutiques. Which are best for exit opps or are they all comparable? ...
  • Evercore/Greenhill vs. Goldman/Morgan Exit Ops for boutiques/ MM firms in general, but not many about ELITE boutiques (evercore / greenhill, maybe ... So don't tell me to go do a search, because I just did. How do exit ops from the elite boutiques ... People always talk about the exit ops for BB, and topics have been started asking about exit ops ...
  • Top boutique (Lazard, Greenhill, Evercore,...) vs Top HF (Citadel, DE Shaw, Bridgewater,...) If you get summer offers for these, which are better in terms of exit opps, prestige, and in ...
  • Greenhill & Co Question analyst duties?) How do you see them comparing to others in their space, ie. Evercore, Gleacher, Lazard, ... etc.? Also, working on these high profile deals should translate to great post-analyst exit ... Anyone familiar with Greenhill? They are working on some monster deals with the LSE /Nasdaq ...
  • 2018 *Elite Boutique* Summer Analyst IB Recruiting Timeline Megathread Page Post updates on interview notifications, first rounders, and super days here. Evercore Lazard ... Centerview Moelis Perella Weinberg Partners PJT Greenhill Guggenheim Houlihan Lokey Rothschild Jefferies to ...
  • Elite Boutique Hours & Culture Have offers from a few of the listed boutiques: Lazard Greenhill Evercore HLHZ Perella Weinberg ... Would be interested in the hours and overall work culture/environment at these firms. Thanks. hlhz GHL ...
  • More suggestions...

Calling relevant pros to the rescue! Mchardyfc Classic27 Meredith-Kramon

Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Full disclosure, I work at another EB, so a lot of this is second hand. But a quick look at factset tells me they only announced or closed 7 deals last year at an average deal size of $300m. That puts them at 65th in the league tables for last year. Anecdotally, I have heard people telling me that Greenhill is a dying brand for years, but that's legitimately awful. That suggests they are a low volume low MM firm. And that tells me not every analyst will work on a live deal in their two years at Greenhill.

I also, second hand, heard comp was bad this year compared to other EBs (it's still above BBs). They also gave out a significant amount of associate comp (not sure about analyst) in RSUs, which is extremely uncommon. I don't know another EB that does that, EVR/PJT/LAZ/CVR are all cash for associates.

Exit ops, I know are struggling because of the above. Lower MM PE is really the expectation, not MF. But I have heard good things about the culture and great things about the hours. But having great hours because you don't have live deals is a catch 22, and not particularly a good thing IMO.

All in all, I wouldn't take GHL unless they were my only option. High volume MM firms like Jefferies/Baird/HL/etc are going to get you better transaction experience and basically every other EB and BB will as well, along with better transactions.

 
Best Response
AllDay_028:
Full disclosure, I work at another EB, so a lot of this is second hand. But a quick look at factset tells me they only announced or closed 7 deals last year at an average deal size of $300m. That puts them at 65th in the league tables for last year. Anecdotally, I have heard people telling me that Greenhill is a dying brand for years, but that's legitimately awful. That suggests they are a low volume low MM firm. And that tells me not every analyst will work on a live deal in their two years at Greenhill.

I also, second hand, heard comp was bad this year compared to other EBs (it's still above BBs). They also gave out a significant amount of associate comp (not sure about analyst) in RSUs, which is extremely uncommon. I don't know another EB that does that, EVR/PJT/LAZ/CVR are all cash for associates.

Exit ops, I know are struggling because of the above. Lower MM PE is really the expectation, not MF. But I have heard good things about the culture and great things about the hours. But having great hours because you don't have live deals is a catch 22, and not particularly a good thing IMO.

All in all, I wouldn't take GHL unless they were my only option. High volume MM firms like Jefferies/Baird/HL/etc are going to get you better transaction experience and basically every other EB and BB will as well, along with better transactions.

LAZ does not give all-cash bonuses for associates. ~25% is typically in RSUs.

 
Bullet-Tooth Tony:
AllDay_028:
Full disclosure, I work at another EB, so a lot of this is second hand. But a quick look at factset tells me they only announced or closed 7 deals last year at an average deal size of $300m. That puts them at 65th in the league tables for last year. Anecdotally, I have heard people telling me that Greenhill is a dying brand for years, but that's legitimately awful. That suggests they are a low volume low MM firm. And that tells me not every analyst will work on a live deal in their two years at Greenhill.

I also, second hand, heard comp was bad this year compared to other EBs (it's still above BBs). They also gave out a significant amount of associate comp (not sure about analyst) in RSUs, which is extremely uncommon. I don't know another EB that does that, EVR/PJT/LAZ/CVR are all cash for associates.

Exit ops, I know are struggling because of the above. Lower MM PE is really the expectation, not MF. But I have heard good things about the culture and great things about the hours. But having great hours because you don't have live deals is a catch 22, and not particularly a good thing IMO.

All in all, I wouldn't take GHL unless they were my only option. High volume MM firms like Jefferies/Baird/HL/etc are going to get you better transaction experience and basically every other EB and BB will as well, along with better transactions.

LAZ does not give all-cash bonuses for associates. ~25% is typically in RSUs.

Really? I was misinformed then, thanks for correcting.

 

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