Robert Baird vs. Lincoln vs. William Blair vs. KBW (NYC)

Opinions of these 4 banks and how would you rank them- mostly reputations and exit opps from all 4 but also considering culture and the people that work there (if you have any insight into that). The first 3 would all be in their Chicago offices and KBW in New York. My thought was

  1. Blair
  2. KBW
  3. Baird
  4. Lincoln

Though I was hesitant to not flip KBW and Baird.

 

From my perspective:

  1. Blair or Baird are both excellent, well known names
  2. Lincoln - fairly good deal flow, consistently place into PE

Pretty big gap

  1. KBW - FIG investment banking isn't what most people are interested in (esp. in the middle market). Not sure how well they place into the buyside. Could spend tons of time just pitching to co-manage bank follow-on equity offerings.
 

So seems like the consensus (if there really is one at all) is

  1. KBW
  2. Blair
  3. Baird
  4. Lincoln

I imagine KBW just being in NYC will have more/better exit opps.
To me Blair seemed to have the worst culture of the bunch- a little bit more pretentious and elitist, and the people at Baird seemed much more approachable/friendly (of course this could just be the ones I have interacted with).

Don't have much on Lincoln except that they probably have the largest international presence of the bunch, but the weakest domestic presence.

Does this seem like an accurate analysis?

 
Best Response

No that is not what the people above have said if you can read.

KBW is not in the same class as the other 3 and wholly unfair to compare because of its FIG focus (which by the way, is doing shitty equity-follow on offerings and $20MM regional bank mergers coupled with fewer larger M&A deals, of which you're not guaranteed to be staffed on...). Being in NYC does not lead to better exit ops, only advantage is you get to meet headhunters and PE guys in-person more often, but recruiters will still reach out to Blair/Lincoln/Baird guys in Chicago for opps all across the U.S.

The those 3 MM firms are among the top MMs (along with HW and Lazard MM) and you can't go wrong with any of them. If PE is your end goal, keep in mind that as opposed to KBW, these MM firms work a lot with PE firms on portfolio company sell-sides, meaning you get to have a fairly consistent interaction with associates/VPs from the deal team on the PE side. If you do good work and seem personable, that goes a long way during resume screening or interviews.

I would say choose according to the people and ask to meet others if you can't get a good sense.

 
Black Jack][quote=roar19]Everyone does realize that <span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/company/keefe-bruyette-woods-inc>KBW</a></span> is going away right</p> <p><a href=http://www.kbw.com/investor-relations/press-releases[/quote rel=nofollow>http://www.kbw.com/investor-relations/press-releases[/quote</a>:

What are you looking at? They merged with Stifel, what makes you think they are going away?

The point is people are LOSING jobs there, not getting jobs. What do you think makes B/D mergers so attractive?? Taking costs out. Keep a few key dealmakers, analysts, and traders and shit-can everyone else. Particularly with the cost saving targets Stifel has set out...

Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.
 
  1. Baird (Upper MM - works on some large deals with high quality assets...See them all the time in market and are ahead of all the others on league tables for the last 3 years)
  2. Blair (Pure MM to lower MM - they remind me of a HL in that they prefer high volume and have less of a minimum deal size and more of a minimum fee)
  3. Lincoln (Similar to Blair but see these guys less)
  4. KBW (Well below the rest)
 

I agree with Platime. I would bet Baird has by far the most people exit into PE, so if that's your goal this is a no-brainer. I'd stay very clear of KBW right now due to the merger. Even if there are rumors out there about what Stifel is going to do with them, you don't know if it's going to look the same 12 months from now. I've always viewed Blair as a small step below Baird, but a step above Lincoln. The downside of Baird is the Milwaukee HQ, but if the offer is in Chicago, I'd definitely take them. Lincoln is a very good M&A advisory shop with good B-School placement, but my guess is you won't get as well-rounded of an experience working there.

 
NestoGrande:
I agree with Platime. I would bet Baird has by far the most people exit into PE, so if that's your goal this is a no-brainer. I'd stay very clear of KBW right now due to the merger. Even if there are rumors out there about what Stifel is going to do with them, you don't know if it's going to look the same 12 months from now. I've always viewed Blair as a small step below Baird, but a step above Lincoln. The downside of Baird is the Milwaukee HQ, but if the offer is in Chicago, I'd definitely take them. Lincoln is a very good M&A advisory shop with good B-School placement, but my guess is you won't get as well-rounded of an experience working there.

Blair is definitely the better name in Chicago IMO. Much larger IB presence (to give an idea, Blair will take about 2x the number of SA as Baird will in its Chicago office) and also a much more (and often times this is a turn off for me) prestigious/pretentious firm. With that said, Baird has been moving lots of its IB to Chicago and is increasing its presence there. Baird's real up and coming business is its wealth management, which has grown tremendously over the past 10 years. Unsure on exit opps between the 2 (and thus my reason for creating this thread), but Blair does a lot of laterals to BBs and other MM firms.

 

Baird's Chicago office is just as big if not bigger than its Milwaukee office these days so I am not sure what you mean by Blair having a much larger presence. It's really not worth splitting hairs between RWB and WB... Both are solid MM firms. If you had offers from both I would take Baird because it has a much better culture, opportunity to work on upper MM deals with high quality assets, more responsibility than many firms, good exit ops

 

Vel sunt deleniti aut iure. Omnis architecto ea atque repellat culpa laboriosam. Sint amet saepe suscipit deserunt at at libero. Est quo vel voluptates necessitatibus ea vel culpa necessitatibus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”