Investment Banks in the Southeast
Hey guys and girls. I was inspired to create this thread after reading a recent thread on life in Charlotte. I'm interested in career in IB in the South/Southeast and would like to gain some more insight into different firms in this region. Previous threads on this topic are either a couple years old or only compare investment banks in the same city (i.e. x firm in (Atlanta, Charlotte, etc.) vs y firm in (Atlanta, Charlotte, etc.) whereas I'm interested in comparing/compiling information on firms across different cities in the South/Southeast. Interested in any information about the following firms or a ranking of the following firms in tiers: Suntrust, Wells, Stephens (ATL/Little Rock/Dallas), Raymond James (Tampa/Nashville), Harris Williams (Richmond), BAML (Lev Fin-Charlotte), Piper Sandler (Charlotte), William Blair (Charlotte), HL (Atlanta), etc. Please feel free to include any other investment banks/boutiques that I missed. Also interested in investment banks operating in Texas however, don't include them if they are solely focused on O&G.
I don’t know about all the firms you listed, and it depends heavily on the group you’re in for some banks, but I would personally choose:
I didn’t list some bc I don’t know as much about them and I’m not sure where I would personally put them. I know GS and Barclays both have Atlanta offices, but I’ve heard SunTrust does better than them in ATL. Deloitte Corporate Finance has a Charlotte office, not sure how well they do. Blair below Piper because the office is very new. Not sure at all about HL in ATL. JPM also has a ATL office, but it’s all Corporate Banking.
any news on SA 2021 openings for any of these?
-BofA was supposed to open today -Jefferies app has been open, starting interviews either late summer or early fall -Harris Williams opens in August -Wells apps have already closed -Blair’s Charlotte office is done -Piper’s Consumer group in Charlotte is done, Diversified Industrials and Services might be recruiting late summer/early fall -SunTrust opens in August -BlackArch opens in the fall (Full-Time only) -Regions opens in August or September
not sure about the others
Let me caveat this post by saying I've only been a MM banker and probably under-appreciate the benefits of working for WF, but here are my thoughts:
WF - I'd be hard-pressed to go there given all of the turnover in IB and terrible reputation they've earned. I've heard deal flow is terrible overall and I assume that applies heavily to Charlotte as well. I cannot imagine that it provides opportunities that are better than the MM groups listed on here
Piper - stole some Laz guys and others and I believe that office does decent, but it is far smaller than many others (Minny, SF, NYC, etc.), so just do some diligence on how that office gets staffed, how strong MD deal flow is locally, etc.
Blair - I'd heavily research this group given how little I've heard about this office and how Chicago-centric it is (SF is solid too)
Sun Trust - poor deal flow and activity IMO, though it may improve with the combo with BB&T (increasingly strong in industrials and services). The Atlanta office is not nearly as good as it was 5-10 years ago IMO
Stephens - decent group that seems to compete more often for $5-$20mm EBITDA mandates; have seen them more in business services and industrials historically
Raymond James - very strong the past few years in HC, IT/tech, services - mentioned in another thread that there was apparently some layoffs or downsizing, so I would check that during conversations
HW - Richmond office is the HQ, solid in many verticals
BlackArch - highly underrated, competes with MMs on many $10-$50+mm EBITDA mandates across various verticals
Regions - didn't even know they did IB
Jefferies - high turnover in Charlotte - believe they are focused on industrials - good brand
HL - ATL office must be small, have not really come across them before out of there
Great Insights! Assuming you had offers from all the firms listed above, who would be included would be your top 3 or 4?
HW, RayJay, BlackArch based on my knowledge of deal flow
Sounds like Jefferies CLT is legit per below.
EDIT I would do more diligence on Piper, Blair, LMM, as those could be legit, but just depends on office size and deal flow
Couple add-ons. Good list.
Suntrust - M&A deal flow overall is poor, but slightly growing. Would not join a coverage group expecting to work on any meaningful m&a. Still have a strong leveraged finance platform. BB&T was strong in Richmond so should continue to push that region.
Jefferies - Charlotte is probably the 3rd largest office outside of NYC and London now. Mix of Consumer, Industrial Tech, Tech Services, and some R/E. Consumer group does well.
Regions - pretty much all debt deals.
RJ - industrial and tech teams in FL are decent and provide awesome COL / lifestyle.
Does RJ pay street in Florida? Is the tech team in Florida the same team that's in ATL/BOS?
Do you know what HW is strongest in?
RJ has its tech services group in Atlanta. Pretty sure that it is one of its top groups.
KeyBanc has a tech group in Charlotte. They also have an office in Atlanta which I believe does Corporate Banking, not 100% sure on that. Key's tech practice as a whole is pretty solid, but I'm not sure how the Charlotte office in particular performs compared to the main Tech offices in Portland and Seattle.
Lazard MM has a group in Charlotte, Fifth Third down in Charlotte as well
Tobin & co
Surprised no one mentioned Deloitte Corporate Finance (McColl Partners). Solid MM firm, founded by Hugh McColl (former BofA CEO).
Jefferies CLT is probably the most robust group in Charlotte or the general southeast. 4 Groups in Jef CLT -- Consumer, ADG, REGAL, Tech-Enabled Services (vertical of Tech). All of the groups are pretty legit and Charlotte is the second biggest office in the US after NYC. Friends who work there said that it's pretty great as pay and overall experience same as NYC but really cheap CoL. All the groups hire every summer (2-3 kids each), but you definitely need to network for interviews and they tend to be more technical as you directly interview for the group. Only con is that office is not in Uptown (downtown in CLT), so you don't get that typical highrise IB experience.
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