Hours and Exit Opps: M&A vs. Restructuring

What are hours likely to be for Restructuring? I'm a junior starting to think about summer jobs. How do exit opps compare to M&A? Is there a clear top tier of restructuring firms that have better exit opps than others?

 

i was talking with a vp from HLHZ just yesterday, and he said the hours were pretty intense. during the busy periods(like now), he said expect 100 hrs/week.

in terms of exit ops, on the creditor side you've got HFs, on on the debtor side you've got PE firms. any of the top shops (hlhz, Lazard, Greenhill) have excellent exit ops. for example, hlhz is mostly creditor advisory, and apparently this guy is constantly getting called on by hedge funds.

 
Best Response

if you want to go into distressed debt hfs, you want to work on the creditor side. Houlihan Lokey is the best in the world in that space, and have offices in NY, LA, ATL, SF, Minn, CHI and i think the big D at least. most of those should take interns. Jefferies is another shop to keep in mind.

Lazard doesnt take many interns, and only from the very top tier. i think indicating in your cover letter and your interview would work, or if the online app asks you for a group preference, go with financial restructuring. seek out restructuring team guys at networking events/career fairs and try to make an impression. emphasize any experience with debt on your resume.

 

Rothschild and HLHZ I believe have the best "prestige" as far as restructuring goes. I don't know how much hiring HLHZ will be doing for SA's this year though. I believe they are cutting back and didn't do much/any hiring outside of their SA pool for FT next year.

NEVER lose your BlackBerry www.conveniencesoftware.com

 

Gotta disagree with ya Convenience, if I wanted to do Restructuring, I would not be looking further than HLHZ, Lazard or BX...no way would I put Greenhill (mentioned above) or Rothschild in the same bracket as those 3

To neutralnuke, Lazard offer summer internships in Restructuring, but in London you don't get to choose your team, randomly assigned.

 

In this market, you have every shop with a pot to piss in starting FRG's. The fact is there are only a few worth looking at if your a top-notch candidate - I believe HL, Laz, and BX. Other shops like Miller Buckfire, Rothschild, etc. see some deal flow, but definitely don't have the prestige of the aforementioned three.

HL FRG is aggressively hiring, I believe Lazard tends to just pull from its Corp Fin practice in down times, and I have no idea what BX is doing.

If your at a top shop, expect to get killed on hours in this market - its happening already. Default rates are through the roof and are only getting worse.

In distress, you're going to run M&A processes, model and deal extensively with bankruptcy law. So I would definitely disagree with anyone who says exits ops are limited.

 
gimmeanswerspls:
In this market, you have every shop with a pot to piss in starting FRG's. The fact is there are only a few worth looking at if your a top-notch candidate - I believe HL, Laz, and BX. Other shops like Miller Buckfire, Rothschild, etc. see some deal flow, but definitely don't have the prestige of the aforementioned three.

HL FRG is aggressively hiring, I believe Lazard tends to just pull from its Corp Fin practice in down times, and I have no idea what BX is doing.

If your at a top shop, expect to get killed on hours in this market - its happening already. Default rates are through the roof and are only getting worse.

In distress, you're going to run M&A processes, model and deal extensively with bankruptcy law. So I would definitely disagree with anyone who says exits ops are limited.

That's a somewhat accurate depiction of the industry, with the exception being your comment about Miller Buckfire. MB has more deal flow than BX and is on par or arguably ahead of BX in all aspects of general restructuring.

 
ConsultThis:
gimmeanswerspls:
In this market, you have every shop with a pot to piss in starting FRG's. The fact is there are only a few worth looking at if your a top-notch candidate - I believe HL, Laz, and BX. Other shops like Miller Buckfire, Rothschild, etc. see some deal flow, but definitely don't have the prestige of the aforementioned three.

HL FRG is aggressively hiring, I believe Lazard tends to just pull from its Corp Fin practice in down times, and I have no idea what BX is doing.

If your at a top shop, expect to get killed on hours in this market - its happening already. Default rates are through the roof and are only getting worse.

In distress, you're going to run M&A processes, model and deal extensively with bankruptcy law. So I would definitely disagree with anyone who says exits ops are limited.

That's a somewhat accurate depiction of the industry, with the exception being your comment about Miller Buckfire. MB has more deal flow than BX and is on par or arguably ahead of BX in all aspects of general restructuring.

isn't Blackstone involved with basically every major restructuring this year?

i read about them in the papers all the time now. semgroup, aig, delta etc. most people don't know anything about Miller Buckfire.

also, Blackstone has john studinzki (sp?) who is a legend.

 

MB is definitely top 3 along with Blackstone.

Being creditor side advisors does get a lot of contact with creditors if you want to move over to the other side, but debtor advisory is still superior. You drive the process and see it from the inside. As a creditor, you're always in the dark until the debtor shows his cards.

 

MB is a well-known restructuring shop, but if you're talking top 3, I don't think you can name MB. How many top schools are placing kids @ MB? I think you'll find not many. If top students want to go into restructuring there's only three names... HL, BX, Lazard.

That being said, MB does see deal flow and I imagine it would be a good place to get some restructuring experience.

To your point about creditor v. debtor side. The debtor side definitely is more involved in the day-to-day of the restructuring process, but don't sell the creditor side short. Understanding the strategies employed by creditors in bankruptcy (especially vultures) is very valuable and interesting experience. Also, I think to say 'the creditor is always in the dark' is false. All parties to a bankruptcy are constantly trying to interpret and predict other parties' moves and depending on the circumstances, the debtor could even be more 'in the dark' than the creditors.

 

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