Overview of PJT Partners?
Did some searches but all the threads are from when PJT was first announced with BX spinning off its M&A practice. Does anyone have any idea about PJT as a firm? Deal flow? "Preftige"? Analyst class composition/training? Exit opps?
Looking at their SA process and curious how their interview process will be and what to expect in general from the new firm. Obviously, there's a lot more out there about applying to/working at the more established BBs, EBs, MMs, etc.
Review of PJT Partners Blackstone History
In October of 2015 Blackstone announced the successful completion of a spin-off of their advisory services. At this point they had successfully combined Park Hill Group with PJT Capital to form PJT Partners. The newly formed investment bank includes mergers and Acquisitions, restructuring and reorganization services. Additionally, the chief executive of Blackstone, Stephen Schwarzman noted that the independence of PJT would allow the firm to operate in the advisory space without a fear of conflict of interest. Paul Tubman, Chairman, and CEO of PJT Partners made the following remarks in an Today marks the culmination of this past year’s hard work and thoughtful planning, and I am extremely excited about the future of PJT Partners as a stand-alone public company. Combining the 30-year legacy of an established firm with the entrepreneurial culture of a start-up, PJT Partners brings together three best-in-class businesses – Advisory, Restructuring and Park Hill. As a next-generation, advisory-focused investment bank that is free of constraints, we are committed to providing our clients with unparalleled, strategic advice while creating long-term value for our shareholders.
A majority of Blackstone's advisory operations was transferred to PJT Partners during the merger. In the year before the merger, advisory services made 4.5 million in profits according to this People make firms, not name. Names are made because of the great people who work at these firms. Please keep that in mind when thinking about any firm you choose to work at or talk about.
And PE/HF funds are the most sophisticated people in finance. If I re-branded Goldman Sachs --> Morgan Sachs tomorrow...nothing would change in terms of exit ops. The only thing that would change is that your parents won't know where you work.
Recent PJT Deals
Most recently PJT Partners has advised Impact Bio Medicines in an acquisition by Celgene for 7 billion dollars. Celgene is a biotechnology company that develops and commercializes medicines for cancer and inflammatory disorders. Celgene has been pressured into making acquisitions to diversify by investors. This came after the under-performance of a new psoriasis treatment drug and a subsequent scale back of their financial outlook.
- Other Notable Deals
- £25 billion: Sky and 21st Century Fox
- $4.8 billion: Yahoo and Verizon
- $21 billion: Rock-Tenn and MeadWestvaco
- $13 billion: Catamaran and United Healthcare
- $4.4 billion: Lionsgate and Starz
- $3.8 billion: Comcast and Dreamworks
As listed on pjtpartners.com
PJT Partners Salary and Bonus
Average base and average bonus as reported in Wall Street Oasis 2018 Investment Banking Industry Report
- Summer Analyst
- Average Base: 71.5k
- First Year Analyst
- Average Base: 80.9k
- Average Bonus: 88.1k
PJT Partners Exit Opportunities for Analysts and Associates
NY: Destinations of PJT Partners analysts and associates
PJT Partners: Professional Growth and Career Opportunities
PJT Partners has one of the hardest interviews but offers one of the most rewarding work environments. Company Statistics as reported in Wall Street Oasis 2018 Investment Banking Industry Report.
Percentile Scores: Company Review
- 80th percentile for professional growth.
- 80th percentile for career advancement opportunities
- 90th percentile for recognition and praise of good work
- 90th percentile for compensation
- 90th percentile for leadership abilities of senior management
- 80th percentile for reputation
If you would like to know more information about the top firms on Wall Street then take a look at the IB Industry report. This report is constantly updated and contains compensation by position, company statistics, lifestyle rankings, and more! Visit the report on WSO.
Read More About PJT on WSO
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Curious about this as well, can't seem to find out anything about their SA recruiting process this year other than their online resume drop.
It's just Blackstone's advisory business (so M&A and Restructuring) under a new name. The firm structure is similar to Evercore's. Historically, kids have gone there (BX Restructuring and M&A) because exit opps have always been better than other BBs/EBs/top groups - probably same thing will continue.
Nvmd. Apparently everybody is in the dark and noone knows nothing. I just wrote an email application to their HR after I got the contacts via ocr.
Anyone heard back from them about anything? I have some contacts there that pushed my resume through but I haven't heard anything from them this far
I sent my resume a few days ago, still waiting :)
Which position did you guys apply for? I'm curious about the Real Estate position vs. the Restructuring, etc. Only recruiting for Real Estate on campus here, so wondering about rep, etc.
Don't know anything about the analyst experience, but a good number of the 2015 summer analysts seemed to want to go somewhere else. I interviewed 4-5 of them (all with return offers) for my EB regional office alone
It's going to take 3-5 years to really be able to say with certainty how placement at PJT holds up compared to the legacy BX advisory groups. The 2014 analyst class recruited as Blackstone analysts. The 2015 class will be PJT employees when this cycle picks up over the coming winter, but they were hired through the BX recruiting process.
Not surprised that the 2016 class wanted out. The BX analyst alumni network effect is yet to be proven for the PJT analyst classes. It's fine for the current guys (all the 2015 analysts interned when the 2012 analysts were in the last few weeks and the 2013 analysts were just becoming second-years) but remains to be seen for later classes.
I think the big thing will be whether or not they maintain the same sky-high standards in recruiting. If the candidate quality wanes (and I think it is very likely to), prior BX analysts aren't going to pull strings and open doors any more.
This is interesting because several of the BX summers analysts and analysts are looking elsewhere instead of going to PJT. The uncertainty is probably driving a lot junior professionals away. As with any new shop, it's going to take a while to build a brand image.
Regarding PJT's new recruiting habits, it seems like its changing. BX, I assume, only conducted OCR at Wharton and Harvard with general postings at schools like NYU / Michigan / Georgetown / Duke etc.
I know PJT is now conducting OCR at NYU and probably at some of the above schools as well. They will probably also try to take a larger class and try to become like and compete with Evercore, Moelis etc.
LOL nice troll
...how so?
Just got my "Unfortunately your application was not successful this time around" email. French business school, 1 year experience in NYC...
was this for a summer analyst position?
Nope, 1st Year Analyst - Class of 2016
At least one summer is not returning.
For those of you waiting for a response, they're doing phone interviews this week- not sure if they have done previous rounds of interviews before this one.
Are we talking London or NYC?
NYC. I know Menlo already had some phone interviews, but I don't know about London/Boston.
I got a phone interview. Anyone have any advice on what to expect? I imagine it to be very technical. How can I begin to study outside of the typical WSO/BIWS guides.
Is anyone in the process with PJT? Any idea on when it's ending and how it is playing out?
Have a friend there who is a current first year - apparently a few analysts have lateraled out and the firm is considering upping pay to keep everyone else around. Reasons for analysts lateraling have been the differences between the typical BX M&A workload, aka very little, and the more aggressive workload that analysts are experiencing now.
Had a phone interview with them this week, any idea when we hear back?
Were you at a non-target or target?
delete
M&A superdays are next Tuesday, Thursday. Restructuring superdays are Wednesday, Thursday. I know they are not coming back to campus for OCR so it appears that all hiring will be over these two days.
Are they still sending out invites or is it likely done? I know someone that had a interview fairly late in the week (thursday)
they turned around first rounds very quickly. M&A invite was day of, RSSG day after.
Would you say that if you haven't heard about any details for the super days, you're likely rejected or do you think it's possible to hear on Monday?
On this note, has anyone received a rejection yet?
Anyone know the status of tech (SF)?
Anyone here applied to their London office?
I did. No news on my front.
Thanks for letting me know. Would be great if you could add a quick comment here once you do hear back, I shall do the same.
I did. I had phone call on Thursday and still waiting for the outcome
Thanks for letting me know. Was that for FT or SA?
Just to confirm what others thought they took down RSSG SA from their website so it's likely they're completely done recruiting for that role.
RSSG NYC superdays were last week, offers went out last week.
M&A NYC is today.
They did "OCR" at like 5-6 schools, I believe.
Any idea about superdays for tech in SF?
There is supposedly another super day on Thursday. Did invites for that super day go out already? NY M&A
To confirm, some SA offers have been doled out.
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I have not heard anything
Can confirm RSSG is not having anymore super days after tomorrow. They are still not done hiring though (super days today, tomorrow). M&A has/had super days yesterday and tomorrow. They did say offers will be given out by EoW.
Are the invites out for the super days? Or can we expect something today....
If I still haven't heard back, should I assume I didn't get it?
I still haven't heard back either for NYC. Is it worth following up with HR or is it over?
Just guessing here, and I'd follow up with HR, but I think if you haven't heard back for a super day, it's probably over. If you had your super day and haven't heard yet, you're probably still in the running as of now
anyone hear anything today
Haven't heard anything. Anyone know how many they're taking for Strategic Advisory?
Guessing 10 SAs for Strategic Advisory, 6-8 for RSSG. Decisions probably will come tomorrow I'm guessing
10 seems like a lot doesn't it?
Did anyone just had an interview with PJT for their Boston office and heard back for a super day?
@lukylong
Had an interview for with PJT for their Boston office Thursday morning, went to a dinner haven't heard back. Have you?
At least restructuring will stay at the same level. Offers went out to just Harvard/Wharton students (+ I believe one NYU student), all of whom have accepted/will accept shortly.
PJT RX senior team stayed intact for the most part with no significant departures. However, I can absolutely see PJT having a tough time competing for deals at least in the first couple of years against Lazard and others due to the unproven brand image.
An example of this was UBS RX team who used to be a very good RX team (maybe not Laz/HL/BX level) but still very respectable and when the head guy started his own shop called GLC and took his entire UBS team with him plus others, they had a lot of trouble winning deals because of the lack of brand equity of GLC.
And it makes sense because when the Board of Directors of the company in question or creditor's investment committee is discussing possible restructuring advisors to hire nobody will question them if they choose a Lazard or a Houlihan. But as soon as say a newly formed entity like PJT, people on the board of directors are going to say "you know what, let's go with Lazard" to play it safe. This is especially true on the debtor side since the company probably has never worked with a restructuring advisor before vs the creditor side where winning deals are a little bit more based on relationships and track record.
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While the above post is valid, also realize that PJT no longer has to compete with GSO on deals.
In the past, there were significant clashes between RX and GSO--debtors would refuse to hire the RX team on the basis that there would be (potential) conflicts of interests, so there were conflicts around if GSO would take a distressed position or RX would be the restructuring advisor of a company. Despite all the talks about the M&A conflicts of interest, the RX team probably ran into those problems much more. M&A traditionally focused on middle market deals that the BX PE platform wouldn't be a player in, but GSO and RX really played in the same space.
I would expect the RX group to perform as well if not better.
Good point and that conflict of interest with GSO was one of the major reasons why BX R&R was spun out to PJT.
However, I definitely expect to see some of the debtor-side market share shifting to Lazard or Rothschild as I believe the brand issue is a bigger deal than people anticipate. They are obviously still in great hands with the senior team they have there and will still be a great RX group but I believe the next several years will be a rockier road for them than most people expect given their previous success.
We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out the next couple of years for them. From an analyst perspective, I think it's still one of the better RX groups to be placed into along with Lazard and Houlihan Lokey, but don't think it is the gold-plated undisputed best that it used to be.
Re: analyst experience and recruiting I'm hearing more that PJT RSSG (or PJT RX) is having a harder time competing with the top buyside opportunities out of UG (silverpoint, KKR, BX PE etc) than BX RX did, but that most still see it as the top sellside opportunity out of UG for HF exits. But at that point we're really just splitting hairs. The bottom line is we'll see how buyside recruiting goes for the next few PJT RSSG classes but personally i think it'll be a lot stronger than most are expecting.
The simple fact that people are asking how PJT is should tell you enough about the transition from the legacy BX advisory groups.
Anyone who got an offer at BX R&R took it without blinking. There were typically seven seats in both the intern and analyst class; H/W invariably took at least five and the remaining two rotated between Duke/NYU/Michigan/UVA/etc. The rare ones to decline a summer offer were the monsters who went to Silver Lake, Silver Point, or one of the BX principal divisions.
BX M&A was mentioned in the same breath; slightly larger class (eight or nine), middle market deals instead of the lights-out unrivaled restructuring advisory mandates, easier hours, and marginally less stellar exits. It was also very rare to see someone not accept a summer or a return offer.
While it remains to be proven how the first analyst classes will place, early signs (adding target schools past H/W; dialing up the analyst hours given the busier dealflow; unproven brand name of the firm that may make top candidates choose the safer, more proven brand) seem to indicate that it's no longer the gold standard analyst program (as measured by 'preftige,' exits, pay, and work-life balance).
People make firms, not name. Names are made because of the great people who work at these firms. Please keep that in mind when thinking about any firm you choose to work at or talk about.
And PE/HF funds are the most sophisticated people in finance. If I rebranded Goldman Sachs --> Morgan Sachs tomorrow...nothing would change in terms of exit ops. The only thing that would change is that your parents won't know where you work.
I love these threads. Someone asks a valid question, people give their educated answers, and then those same people get MSed. If you all MS people who are just trying to legitimately help, all that ensures is that in the future when you have a question, there won't be anyone to help.
Update on London Recruiting: They are coming to our campus this Wednesday, said they are looking for all kinds of students (ft, off-cycle, summer). Not sure if srs or if they just said that they are looking for people to increase attendance.
Thanks for that!
x
Bccccca, what sort of stuff did they want to know? Would be much appreciated if you could share some insight (PM if you feel more comfortable). Im going for FT, btw. TY!
typical questions you get in first round interviews, a few personal questions and then technical depending on the interviewer and on your background
It appears that they are looking to hire 6-10 people in London, 1-2 of which are going to be German speakers. They said that they are pretty late in recruiting because they only set their business up this summer and thus missed the early/normal recruiting cycle.
Awesome info, thanks a lot. Any idea of their time line for recruitment? (For FT)
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Has anyone heard back from PJT in London? Interviewed with them last Friday and haven't heard back yet?
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FT. I remember you saying you were going for SA...
I've got the offer for FT two weeks ago
Has anyone yet heard back for intern positions in London? I have applied for an off cycle but no news from my side though... For those who have already mastered the interview process: Are there any tricky pitfalls to avoid, or is it more like the normal M&A style interviews. I am quite confident with respect to technicals and M&A questions but consider detailed questions on RX to be my weak points.
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PJT just reopened a resume drop for SA on my target's careers website- they already had a drop earlier. Anyone have any ideas why this is happening? Are they trying to fill non-NY locations or did they decide to take more for NY?
They made several offers to students who ended going with their BB / EB offers instead so they still need to fill the spots.
Don't really think that's the case but seems like you "know" so much about PJT given all your posts about the firm
They gave out all their offers in November. I know 9/10 have signed. The class is most likely full, probably for other offices.
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Between M&A and Restructuring PJT handed out 4-5 offers at NYU Stern for SAs this year. At least two of the them are going elsewhere. I'm sure it's a similar story at other schools.
Do you know whether this is for RSSG or just M&A?
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