I know it’s cringy to do tier lists but here are my opinions on the main middle market IB firms.
Baird/Blair
HW/HL
Lincoln/Piper
RJ/BLG/BMO
Would love to hear what you guys think about the list and your opinions on each firm! Feel free to add any companies that I may have left out as well.
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You forgot RBC
ah yes, the anti-RBC troll back once more to strike controversy
Hi RBC intern
RBC is a miscellaneous firm. Probably closer to MM
Not endorsing the tiering, but I’d suggest adding Jefferies to your radar
Not rlly a MM anymore tbh.. most deals are above 1 billion nowadays. This wasn’t the case even 5 years ago
stifel belongs on bottom, ubs/rbc/wfs belong on the top
How tf is UBS a MM... they may not be a BB anymore but calling them a MM makes no sense
Because the deals they work on are in the middle market. Middle market is deals less than $1b
Wells Fargo could be somewhere in there
BGL* pls fix thx
good catch
Where would the likes of Mizuho/Macquarie/HSBC rank amongst this group ?
HSBC mid with HL, Macquarie and Mizuho below all listed
where would you place all of these firms in the tier list?
You must be on the capital markets side. Those skew ECM heavy.
Jefferies, Wells, RBC, and Roth are not in any way middle market. They may not be BBs but putting them in the category of MM doesnt make sense because their business strategy has nothing in common with a typical MM bank like Blair/Baird.
Why do you feel the need to try and put together a list if you aren't even a i-banker yet? Have you tried the search function? There are plenty of threads discussing the tiers, including ones that have been put together in 2020.
Wow thank you, Student / Prospective Monkey! Such great insights, with so much support / rationale behind the tiers!
you are very welcome mr nuclearpenguins
Lincoln International has great standing outside of the US including mainland Europe. Not on EB level but certainly moving up
Agreed.
Lincoln killed it last year. Pretty sure they finished FY2019 up 30% in revenue
you agree with where I placed it on the list?
an argument could be made that it should be with HW/HL. They've also brought over some HL MDs/Directors the last few years if that means anything.
Lincoln is a solid shop, but it is not on par with Blair, Baird and HL.
@Bullet-Tooth Tony Where do you think Lazard MM is on this list?
I think it’d be with bmo/bgl/rj
Very group dependent, but probably same tier as Piper. Chemicals team is doing $250mm - $1B deals. C&R team will go down to $50 million. They are pitching against HL/Blair/Baird/Piper/Ray Jay/Key/BB&T on a frequent basis.
Would you happen to know anything as to the strength, prevalence or set-up of their restructuring team? I read in several places, and heard from several individuals at their New York office, that they have a restructuring team. I would like to learn about how significant it is, or whether it is just a part of the large-cap team, working with Freres.
It is/was distinct, similar to LMM in various industry verticals or products (DCM). Used to be run by Andy Torgrove but not sure if he is still leading it or only internal facing now (COO)
Thanks for that! If you do not mind, I am curious to know a bit more about LMM's New York office.
I was told they have a generalist set-up for interns and analysts (they can shift between different industries as well as between M&A and RX). Is this true? Could you also speak to the strength of each of the groups at the New York office?
I am also curious about how much the New York office works with Freres, what their culture is like, hours, and the size of the team there (also how many interns they take, and the conversion rate to full time if you know).
I have read your posts about LMM from past years, but would like to learn more. Apologies for the number of questions, and thanks in advance!
There is some cross-staffing, but LMM is its own silo. It is correct that analysts are cross-staffed with the exception fo a couple of groups (Food & Ag had dedicated analysts, but is now broadly C&R, so not sure if that still holds).
NYC was heavy on TMT, C&R, Debt advisory and Rx. Not sure if it has grown or not.
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