How exactly does Morgan Stanley's analyst program work?

I know people often talk about Morgan Stanley's M&A analyst program as being top-notch, but do analysts in M&A focus on a specific industry? Or does being a MS M&A analyst mean you do more general analysis?

And when someone focuses on a specific industry are they placed within a certain product group (M&A, GCM, etc)?

I guess I'm just confused as to whether M&A is a standalone group that's completely separate from industry groups or if they are interconnected. For example its my understanding that Goldman does not have a specific M&A group so each industry group focuses on their own M&A, IPO's services, debt underwriting, credit advisory, etc.

 

Anyone with some actual insight know the answer?

On MS's website they mention that the analyst program is broken down by fixed income, institutional equity, investment banking, etc. Within IB they mention it is further subdivided between industry and M&A but they do not mention details. Is the M&A a generalist program that covers all industries? Or is M&A further subdivided into different industry classes?

I would really like to know the answer. Thanks in advance to anyone who knows.

 
ricottacheese:
MS M&A is standalone. you'll work with all of the industry teams. overtime you might find yourself "specializing" in a specific industry and working on M&A deals with one more than the rest but in general you'll be cross staffed across different industries.

Thanks for the response. So if MS was working on a specific M&A deal in a specific industry I'm guessing they would use analysts from both the industry group and M&A group? Do analysts in an industry group get to do any M&A work? It seems like GS would be the better place to work since you get to work on aspects of IB (M&A, underwriting, credit advisory, etc) when working in an industry group.

 
prideandtrue:
ricottacheese:
MS M&A is standalone. you'll work with all of the industry teams. overtime you might find yourself "specializing" in a specific industry and working on M&A deals with one more than the rest but in general you'll be cross staffed across different industries.

Thanks for the response. So if MS was working on a specific M&A deal in a specific industry I'm guessing they would use analysts from both the industry group and M&A group? Do analysts in an industry group get to do any M&A work? It seems like GS would be the better place to work since you get to work on aspects of IB (M&A, underwriting, credit advisory, etc) when working in an industry group.

"So if MS was working on a specific M&A deal in a specific industry I'm guessing they would use analysts from both the industry group and M&A group?" Correct.

"Do analysts in an industry group get to do any M&A work?" Some. They'll sometimes work on building the operating models and responding to one-off client requests (anything really client facing), and doing any analysis that is super industry specific.

"It seems like GS would be the better place to work since you get to work on aspects of IB (M&A, underwriting, credit advisory, etc) when working in an industry group" Depends how you look at it. MS M&A will focus almost exclusively on technicals/modeling and deal execution i.e. the more exciting and glamorous work, but you will certainly lose out on industry knowledge and some of the relationship stuff associated with client service. On the flip side, at GS you would get all of the client service AND product exposure within an industry but that implies that a smaller portion of your time is focused on deal execution/modeling/technicals than if you were in an M&A group at one of the other large banks.

 
Best Response

Copy and pasted from the job posting:

Banking Group Morgan Stanley’s Banking Group brings specific industry, regional and product expertise to corporations, institutions and government clients in order to develop and execute innovative and customized solutions to the most challenging strategic and financing issues faced in the global marketplace. Each industry area within the Banking Group works closely with product team members in Mergers & Acquisitions, Global Capital Markets, Real Estate, and other industry groups throughout the Firm to provide the relevant market insight, product creativity, and execution expertise to clients. The Banking Group extends across a diverse range of product areas, including initial public offerings; public and private equity and equity-linked financings; mergers, acquisitions and restructurings; defense advisory assignments; strategic partnerships; public and private debt placements; share repurchases; and hedging, swaps and derivative transactions.

 

IBD is split up into M&A, Real Estate, and Industry Groups. The latter includes (copied and pasted from a presentation): Basic Materials Group Consumer Group Financial Institutions Group Financial Sponsors Group Healthcare Group Industrials Group Latin America Group Media & Communications Group Power and Utility Group Retail Group Services Group Technology Group Transportation Group

 

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