Investment Banks in Atlanta

Find out about all the banks that are in Atlanta, wether they be small shops, MM, Boutique or BB, and see what they offer. Then start trying to talk to people. Figure out what their recruiting efforts are like. At least in a bigger city like Atlanta you'll have more larger boutiques and some BB presence so you should be looking into full time for post grad right now.

I would also look for any alumni in the Atlanta area in the industry and reach out to them as well.

Basically, your job search in Atlanta will be almost the same as any other job search in any other city.

The graduating in August of 2016 is going to throw your timing off a bit.

Why not look at DB in jax? (even if it is crap)

Are you in the MSF program? If not, do it. No argument there. Herring knows what she's doing and it's no coincidence that ATL is like the number 1 placement for MSF grads, mainly investment banking too (SunTrust, Wells, etc.).

Source: Former MSRE. Go Gators.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Raymond James Financial Houlihan Lokey (FAS) Brookwood Associates CHILDS Advisory Partners CCG Advisors FIG Partners VRA Partners Croft & Bender Hammond Hanlon Camp LLC Coker Capital Advisors Cary Street Partners Mazzone & Associates The Inman Company TM Capital Kurt Salmon Associates Capital Advisors Genesis Capital LLC

Go Gators.

I really appreciate all of the advice guys, I will absolutely use it. Thanks!

Bank of America and Wachovia are the only major players in the Southeast and they're in Charlotte. BofA is actually moving most of their IB operations to NYC, so Wachovia is your best bet if you're looking to live in the Southeast.

that SunTrust is really strong in Atlanta and the Southeast but it has no comparison to BB firms in NY or even Chicago. Also, the culture down there is a lot different. If you aren't from the south, stay away.

Let me add some qualifiers: I grew up in a suburb of Atlanta and currently live in the city going to school. I'm not necessarily looking for BB firms, I would be fine with boutique. Am I right in thinking that places like CS and BS will just be private wealth? The websites dont really go into detail about operations in Atlanta offices. What is the difference in the corporate culture? Will hours be as bad as places in NY?

in Atlanta are going to be mainly wealth mgt. For banking, SunTrust is your main option in Atl. For the Southeast, Wachovia and BoA are dominant but located out of charlotte. In Charlotte, hours are going to be very similar to NY, but at SunTrust in ATL, hours are going to be much less than NY. One of the best botiques in the Southeast is McCall partners in Charlotte.

there's a HLHZ office in Atlanta, too.

SunTrust's M&A side is pretty weak. Some of the top guys left and formed VRH partners (google it).

There are no bulge bracket IBD offices in Atlanta.

not to mention their top industrial md left to start up Giuliani Capital's Atlanta office. SunTrust is involved in a bunch of law suits right now. It isn't pretty there.

There are a lot of boutiques and smaller investment banks in the Southeast. Someone already mentioned McColl but spelled it incorrectly. There is also Edgeview, BB&T, KBW (has offices in the SE), a scary amount of places in Richmond, as well as many other boutiques. Look for the firms that recruit at UNC, Duke, Vandy, Wake, and UVA. If you are set on geography and not on name recognition like many of those on this forum, then you can find a spot in one of the firms but you will have to do some research.

The south is gay

Charlotte has multiple boutiques. McColl gets a lot of respect because of its name (Hugh McColl former CEO of BofA) but I've heard from more than one source that they treat their Analysts like shit. If I were you, I would be looking in Charlotte instead of Atlanta though. Much better opportunities.

The south isnt gay....you're gay.

I heard that Burke Capital rules the roost in hotlanta.

The south sucks. You lost the war. Lose the confederate flags and the attitude. Nobody thinks it's cool.

sorry to hijack....what do you guys know about McColl? is it respected? comp? exit opps?

what do you mean "treats their analysts like shit" streetmonkey?

Hahaha, true, but what is cool is that we get paid the same in Charlotte as NYC Analysts, and our mortgages cost less than your rent...oh and the lake is a 15 min drive away (yes, we get to drive cars in the south) if we want to kick it on Sundays. But enjoy knowing that you won some war 150 years ago, lol.

bigdirs,

McColl has a good reputation but I know of Analysts that have left because they could make the same money 5 min down the road and be treated 10x better. Just what I've heard though.

Yeah, I'd much rather work in Charlotte than NYC if I had the choice. Then again, I'm from Charlotte so I'm biased...

BTW, cities in the south are nothing like the towns/rural areas...they are mostly made up of northern transplants, although if you drive 15 minutes out of town you'll spot plenty of rebel flags.

Sorry to say but you don't get paid as much as nyc analysts and you don't have the prestige factor. But I will say the south has some hot ladies.

And regarding Mccoll, I know they work some pretty awful hours but I have never heard anything about getting treated badly.

See, thats the thing...I'm not that concerned with prestige. I enjoy finance and would like to actually have a career that I enjoy, and make decent money, without giving up my life to do it. That's why I'd like to stay near Atlanta or at least in the SE. Would I make at least 50-60k out of college if I did land a job at one of the banks down here?

How about The Blackstone Group?

I heard they do it right in the "dirty south".....

Yes, they do. Analysts got offered 60-10 this year in Charlotte, same as in NYC.

Fraser, I doubt anyone will throw anything at you but more along the lines of "Where's my coffee? I told you to have it for me 5 min ago?" Just stupid hazing like that. But once again I never worked at McColl, just heard this secondhand.

Oh, thats not that bad then. I would expect that at any bank, at least to some degree.

Yeah, but why deal with it if you don't have to? Even in I-banking there is no reason to be disrespectful towards your subordinates. As far as pay is concerned, I would imagine that most boutiques are paying somewhere from 80-120 total package for 1st years. Obviously, this would depend a lot on the firm.

the Blackstone office in Atlanta is like 2 people.

So they need some help! Haha

I have a friend at HLHZ in Atlanta. They say it is a real New York-style sweatshop. Apparently the bankers there like to pretend like they're bulge-bracket Manhattan bankers with the same hours and lifestyle.

in Atlanta? What product/industry groups are covered out of there?

I don't know much about them, but I do know that they claim to handle the middle market down there... whatever that means to them. I believe they are a leader in fairness opinions.

Actually, I know some people (typically lower-status MDs) handling middle market transactions in the bulge brackets. $50 million is plenty big enough.

However, I see firms like HLHZ applying the term "middle market" to anything that's not huge. The term itself implies that there is something smaller out there, and yet you'll see the term being applied to the smallest deals on the street.

The reason why I wouldn't want to work at HLHZ is that it's not that much less work in terms of analyst-hours, and the money and opportunities are comparably bad.

Harris Williams is located out of Richmond. They are strictly middle market (and proud of it). I think they are on the higher end of the groups one might designate as middle market.

Dude, you are lazy. Go to the master IB thread and find Atlanta. I would bet a ton of money that someone requested Atlanta in that crazy long thread.

Edit: Just checked. The thread is called Regional Boutiques. It is on the first page. Look around and read before asking questions.

Blackstone has an M&A office that hires for Atlanta

Company database, filter by Investment Bank and use an Atlanta zip code. Prepare for the best. Here -> http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/wso-company-database?title=&distance%5Bp…

If you haven't already tried the somewhat generic search terms 'investment bank atlanta, ga' and 'investment banking firms atlanta, ga' you should as it has a fair number of legit places and maybe even a few the list in the 'Regional Boutiques' thread doesn't mention.

Regards

Thanks guys

TM Capital is a great firm. had a few run ins with them.

yeah, Atlanta is pretty small in that respect. offer to work for free if you live in the area, because it's not like you'll be paying rent. over the past year boutiques, even in atlanta, have been getting much more impressive resumes because even top candidates are having to lower their standards these days. you should also consider Charlotte and other cities.

Who would want to compete for a job in Atlanta?

Making 100k in Atlanta you could "ball out" "like mad."

What about for internships though? specifically for rising soph.

Atlanta is a really nice city to live in, if you're not bent on exit ops and making it big then I'm sure you could afford an amazing lifestyle down there.

Anyways I think you are just looking for freshmen summer - you could definitely find something, my advice is to start early and talk to as many people as you can. I bet there's a decent amount of Duke alum around the city that would be willing to help you out, get their numbers from the career center or alum directory and hit them up.

When is a good time to start sending e-mails to alums? Would they even listen to a freshman?

If you want a PWM internship, it won't be that hard to get, I had one after my freshman year at a community college

Nail your first semester classes and get a spanking GPA. It will help your alumni contact/internship finding process a lot, especially if you're trying to find an IBD internship as a freshman.

Nail your first semester classes and get a spanking GPA. It will help your alumni contact/internship finding process a lot, especially if you're trying to find an IBD internship as a freshman.

What is comp like for PWM internships?

NYC will over shadow every city given its the hub of the industry, overall ATL has some solid firms, I think RBC has a large presence down there no?

Other than college I have lived in Atlanta almost all of my life so I am pretty biased towards liking Atlanta. Aside from the low cost of living I think it's a great city with great people. In my opinion the Atlanta job market for IB is pretty warm right now. I don't currently work in IB, I am currently in a position with a very similar skill set, but I am in various stages of the interview process with three different firms.

There are some really good firms in the Atlanta area. SunTrust RH is going to the largest and has both industry and product groups. They certainly carry more brand name, but I wouldn't say they are the better than any of the boutiques where you would have much more deal exposure. I spoke with an MD in STRH's m&a group last month and he said that things had been pretty slow for a couple of quarters.i.e. crappy bonuses

There are a lot of reputable boutiques in the Atlanta area that would certainly be worth contacting.