Top Chicago IB
Background: Notre Dame sophomore looking into Investment Banking internships/jobs in Chicago.
Was wondering if there was a list or if people had suggestions of top IB firms and groups to start networking with.
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Was on vacation there and tried to set up some coffee meetings but couldn't find a ton, ended up connected with a few alumni. Seemed like William Blair had the largest presence from what I could see on linkedIn but I could be wrong.
Thanks for info. They've come up a fair amount, probably best MM in Chicago so wouldn't be a bad gig.
Bump
All the BBs, Lincoln International, William Blair. Also know Houlihan, Greenhill, Lazard, Baird, Duff & Phelps, and others have significant presence.
FYI a handful of people at Duff & Phelps are actively looking to make a lateral move... not sure if that's an option you would want to explore
Citi Chicago has the largest office of all the BBs in Chicago. Following would be GS and Barclays. MS no longer has junior staff in Chicago, only coverage MDs.
William Blair, Baird, Harris Williams, etc. are all reputable MM firms with large offices/headquarters in Chicago.
Harris Williams doesn’t have an office in Chicago.
Apologies, you’re right
also weird: at MBA associate level, GS doesn't do internships in Chicago. Not sure about at the analyst level
...
I think all Chicago analysts are being relocated to New York.
...
What's first year comp at Blair in Chicago compared to a BB?
Blair pays in line with the highest paying banks in New York. Benefit of living in Chicago too.
Barclays - TMT GS - Industrials Citi - Industrials Houlihan - Restructuring JPM - Automotive Macquarie - Education Moelis - Telecom, but they do some other stuff Blair - everything
Evercore, Rothschild and PWP are in Chicago, but all are 1 year old so not sure what their deal flow looks like yet
Bump
Moelis Chicago Telecom is outdated. They do not cover Telecom in that office.
They actually cover Food Retail, paper packaging, agriculture, FIG, and Tranportation / Logistics
You would be remiss not to include BMO Capital Markets.
100+ bankers (30+ MD/Ds) on IBD side in Chicago. Full coverage groups across Industrials, Food/Consumer, Real Estate. Sizeable LevFin & M&A group presence.
Well aware of BMO in Chicago. My list was intended to be the top groups in Chicago, hence why I left CS off since GS and Citi have better industrials/business services groups
Lazard has a large restructuring group in Chicago, if that's your thing
Lazard has a large M&A practice in Chicago as well, headed by George Bilicic
Is this traditional Lazard or Lazard MM?
CS has a large industrials and business services group in Chicago
Both Sam Shah and Raghu Velamati who headed business services at CS are now at Macquarie. Not sure if they rebuilt the group out there.
I think they only headed Knowledge Services or something like that at CS. From what I've heard, the Macquarie Chicago office mainly does education deals, and has done like every education software deal in the past 2 years.
But CS lost 4 MDs in one summer (2 to GS, 2 to Macquarie), so wonder how that office is doing now. Know they were the go-to Business Services group on the street before that summer
Can someone tell me how well known & the reputation of Dresner Partners in Chicago?
bump
Not sure about full-time, but I know people who have interned there in their junior year summer and ended up placing at BBs and MMs like Blair and Baird for full-time.
Do you know if they hire interns?
Recognizable lower-middle market boutique in Chicago. Usually people leave to go to larger middle markets (Blair, Baird, etc.). Seems like deal flow has decreased over the years. Have heard some questionable things about culture.
I have off-cycle internship. People I spoke with were nice. However, Glassdoor comments are a few years old. They say they are MM??
Perella Weinberg Partners
Greenhill Chicago is a solid shop for PE recruiting. They have a rather small analyst class every year (around 2-4?). Prior placements at solid UMM funds like Golden Gate and Pegasus. I know someone went to Warburg Pincus NYC (a little while back). Also from what I've heard, the outgoing analysts this year are heading to Silver Lake and Madison Dearborn.
What are typical buyside exit opps for Chicago IB analysts?
Gee, do you think it depends on the group and firm?
Apologies, was referring to the firms that have been discussed thoroughly within the thread, the likes of Blair, Baird, Macquarie, PJC, HL, and satellite BB offices. Obviously group dependent but where is the average Blair analyst landing? Obviously they may be at a disadvantage in comparison to BB/EB NU analysts, but curious to see where they end up on average
Blair hands down if you want to stay in Chicago long-term. Baird is a step down, but very strong presence in Chicago
William Blair seems like a good shop. I interviewed with them in school, was impressed with the culture/feel of it . . conservative, no nonsense approach. Not chasing the latest fad, just building their business in a slow and sustainable way.
I've heard good things about Moelis in CHI. Know a couple ppl who've been through there for internships and FT, all have said good things about it. They worked hard but learned a lot and liked the people.
Ditto for Jefferies, people pretty pleased in that office (by banking standards).
Lazard CHI blows, everyone hates it there. Somewhat true of the whole bank but especially CHI.
I'm less familiar with JPM/UBS/CS, except to say that they all hard large Industrials teams in Chicago when I was in school there 7-8 yrs ago, and they recruited heavily, but I don't know if that's applicable today.
Why the MS? Someone at Lazard offended? Sorry man, the kids need the truth. BTW, I heard Baird sucks too.
Any specifics you could share on Baird? Just curious what you've heard.
Jefferies Chicago office has no junior bankers.
I heard HC was growing there. But then again without Sage doing wife swaps to win business like back in the day, maybe growth has stalled.
PJC's office there is pretty much all debt/restructuring.
Also have a FIG coverage team
Why go to Chicago when you can go to Milwaukee and work at Baird. Easily the best bang for your buck (get it?) if you are practical about it!
This may be dated knowledge, but pretty sure Baird's IB was mainly in Chicago. ER and the wealth management business were in Milwaukee.
Majority is, I think the MD split is probably 30/70 MKE to CHI
I don't get it.
Milwaukee Bucks
Bump
Interested as well
I would definitely recommend looking at Baird. Its a great shop and is pretty underrated. Very friendly people and the company as a whole seems to actually care about its people (at least compared to other IBs).
I will be interning with BMO Harris in a middle office role in Chicago this summer. Any suggestions about how to go about setting up shadows with other bankers in the office/coffee chats with bankers from other banks?
Can anyone comment on JPM presence? Surprised they aren't talked about more given Chase tower / commercial bank HQ
Automotive and Industrials. Clients I know of are Caterpillar, John Deere, Harley Davidson and Ford
I can personally confirm the accuracy of Trippy's comment regarding JPM's client exposure.
How are the top BB's (JPM/GS/MS) FIG and Industrials teams in Chicago? Do they have similar exit opps to their counterparts in NYC?
JPM and MS don't have any FIG out of Chicago, but GS does. Have heard nightmares about GS Chicago from former analysts and an associate. MS Chicago as someone mentioned above earlier no longer has junior bankers. From what I heard, any analysts still there are just wrapping up their analyst years before leaving and some went to NYC. JPM has a small part of their Diversified Industrials team in Chicago
Bump
What about Stifel? seems that they have an IB division in Chicago. Do they ever get any deals?
Moved half their Chicago office to NYC last summer, so doubt deal flow was / is strong. It's also only FIG...
Baird hardly takes any interns in Chicago and most people will usually forward you to folks in Milwaukee to talk to.
WB only hires ND athletes because there are a couple MDs that were former athletes there, but it is the best place based in Chicago.
Lincoln is growing but have been on this site for the wrong reasons. HL is good for IB too, but restructuring is their strongpoint. Same goes for Lazard.
GS, Evercore, BAML, CS, MS all have a notable ND presence in Chicago, with Citi, Moelis, Greenhill, PWP having less of one from what I have heard.
Look into some other Chicago and midwest-based places such as Triple Tree, Stout Risius Ross, XMS, Marathon, Loop, Madison Street, Ziegler, etc. All these places are especially strong in some areas.
P.S: B.R. is sure to reprimand you for not talking to him first.
HL's Food team is its best Chicago group. Rx is stronger in Minny and NY.
You skipped some other decent MM boutiques and went straight to some dogshit shops. Loop and Madison Street are straight trash. TT is in Minny, which makes no sense if he is asking about Chicago.
I clearly said “other Midwest” firms as well; plenty of other people on the thread said to go ahead and look at Milwaukee too. And sorry we’re not all big shots like you, gotta spread the apps open to the lesser ones too. Advice that says only to apply to the best places is what fucks kids over on this site.
I am sorry, but this is completely inaccurate. I work in Chicago and have friends at all these banks. Please only post here if you really know information and if that information is current. There is so much out dated information on this thread.
Baird has a decent presence in Chicago, it is a fairly decent sized office that has an intern program.
WB hires many of analysts from schools like U of I, IU, Miami OH (only a few a year), and other midwest schools outside of ND. Yes ND has a large presence in ALL Chicago IB shops.
Not trying to start an argument, but just curious if this is from a source or your experience because it is different than mine.
I just meant as a ND sophomore like this kid, his best bet is being an athlete, but of course WB hires from many schools. Baird absolutely has a solid Chicago presence but a smaller ND presence and smaller intern class overall than MKE.
Thank you for your mercy as the other guy in the ivory castle decided today was the day to roast someone who recently went through the process of networking with dozens of CHI firms and only has the info he (I) got from that. I talked to people at every firm I listed and yes, I know they're not all the best. Sorry to everyone if people I talked to straight up lied or led me astray because I don't have a 3.95 GPA.
I'd give you MS for how terrible of a post this is, but apparently I've given out too many lately.
BMO CM in Chicago has a significant ND presence across industrials, fc&r and m&a. Usually takes 2-4 ND interns per year in Chicago. CS also usually fills 3 of their 5 spots through ND. One of their directors has run recruiting since he was an associate supports his fellow ND people.
Bump
Most any Chicago bank culture > any NYC bank culture.
Midwest is just a different vibe.
Bump
William Blair is HQ'd in Chicago and pretty solid. Other than that, MS & BAML pretty strong. All banks have some presence there
Uhhhhhh MS and BAML are not strong here lol. MS gave their ASO's NYC return offers, and are moving to only a senior presence in the city. BAML (lol) has a super small team compared to other BBs in Chicago and predominately works on NYC deals as their sourcing isn't great
Successfully finished recruiting for Chicago:
Lazard - opportunities with both Laz and Laz MM; met a few individuals who left Lazard for BB in Chicago based on the culture of office in Chicago.
Moelis - newer group in same building as Lazard; diverse offering of coverage groups; driven and affable group of people; certainly work hard; nice mix of individuals from top business schools
Goldman - supposedly strong group; didn't recruit at MBA level
Barclays - enjoyable group of people; mix of industrials, packaging and sponsors work; focused on lifestyle, healthy balance between major business schools in area
Baird - outgoing and relaxed; do well in the Chicago market; more of a diverse offering similar to William Blair; mix from various business schools; headquartered in Milwaukee but focused on Chicago market
Blair - great culture, new building, similar diverse offering to Baird given the firm is actually headquartered in Chicago; target schools include Harvard, Penn, UChicago, and Michigan.
JPM - a phenomenal group focused on automotive and diversified industrials; focused on building out M&A practice in Chicago to compete with Citi; UChicago HEAVY
CS - extreme turnover; office is also dominated by UChicago; packaging and industrials work; not as friendly and outgoing as Citi and JPM at the BB level
Citi - largest BB presence in Chicago; global head of M&A sits in Chicago; healthy balance between top business schools, obvious focus on diversified industrials; young MD's
BAML - focusing on mid-market practice; nice group of guys but IBD platform, nationwide, has struggled over the past several years
Lincoln - small office with limited opportunities; smart individuals but not too personable
Perella - brand new office; taking 1-2 summer associates; not much else
Evercore - small office; maybe will increase in size to compete with Lazard/Moelis moving forward
MS - senior bankers; most summer associates had offers transferred to NYC last year
Houlihan - didn't recruit here; strong RX practice obviously; heard summer internship yield isn't the best
BMO - headquartered in Chicago (US-based operations); strong committment to Chicago; quite a few former UBS people; many former military bankers
Wells - no significant presence; hired an MD from JPM to focus on Chicago presence moving forward; will be on par with Perella in terms of size in the coming years
Anyone know about the UBS or Deutsche office in Chicago?
Nonexistent = Winding Down
DB maybe, UBS was hiring laterals recently. Had a friend interview there
I thought investment banking scene in Chicago was sort of dying. Is it really a city gen Z kids should hitch their wagon to? The state and city taxes are brutal — as is the weather, with no mountains to take make up for it.
As an investment banker - the taxes you should be worried most about are income taxes. There is no city income tax in Chicago and Illinois has a flat 4.95%. Compare that to top state brackets in CA (13%+) and NY (~9%) - so not sure what you mean by 'brutal'. Its much better than the two larger finance markets.
Summers are awesome but fair point on mountains.
I also dont think anyone from Gen Z is hitching their wagon to any city. Banking is a global business - its just more about where you are living at the moment.
Doesn't sound like the discrepancy will be this wide for very long with ole JB at the helm
Lazard, Lazard MM, Blair, Baird and Moelis seem to place top PE (MM) in Chicago based off Linkedin results. You might see more results for Baird and Blair simply because they have larger intern classes. I would probably start with these banks
Bump on Laz RX culture
I thought they closed their Chicago office a year ago? Might've just been M&A tho
Hands down not even close, Chicago’s largest bank is William Blair, it’s headquarters is there. You could work at other firms and your buyside ops to large NYC PE might be better if you choose a smaller GS office in Chicago, but if you were to survey where rich people work that live in the city or surrounding suburbs, Blair and citadel would likely have the largest presence of any financial firms. On a headcount basis it’s basically the size of BB’s at this point hiring an analyst class of around ~90-100.
Also, if your goal is to stay in Chicago, Blair will get you anywhere, enough with this “they only get to mm firms”, that’s a very dated view based on the fact that the bank was nothing 10 years ago and now has several dominant positions in the middle and upper middle market and analysts have gone on to firms like Thoma, Vista, GTCR, etc.
Baird is #1 for Consumer and Industrials. Blair is #1 for Tech and Healthcare.
They're neck and neck for diversified financial services in general.
Blair is slightly closer to a more traditional banking culture, while Baird is very casual. Both are very Midwestern, so expect people to be more easy going than an NYC bank.
In general, Blair works more days but Baird works more hours, if that makes sense.
Those are the two best banks in Chicago, in my opinion. There are many other great shops, though. Lincoln is moving up quickly. Guggenheim has a good t&s presence.
First time I have ever seen someone say consumer was one of Baird's strong groups. I used to work at Baird and they were not one of the stronger groups when I was there. The strongest groups are Industrials (arguably the strongest MM industrials practice) and Tech / Services (Tech side lacks but really strong on the services side)
Can confirm Consumer is setting records right now. After a few years down, they've been striking gold. Revenue is 3x previous record highs, and there is a big headcount push to support continued growth.
What is the Guggenheim "t&s" that you speak of? Technology and... ?
Also, any info on the culture at Guggenheim? I know that it's new and a lot of bankers from Blair, but anything about the hours, the people?
S stands for Services.
Guggenheim's MM group started with poaching two MDs from Blair who were rainmakers running the technology & services group. When the MDs jumped, pretty much the whole group then followed over. Since, they poached a few additional MDs from Lazard, Lincoln, Raymond James in other industry groups and have grown from like 5 to 40 people in two years.
Btw, the group is not called T&S and its called MM group but given their roots, I think over 50% of work is in tech enabled services (the other MDs to consumer, industrial, healthcare etc.) so they are trying to build out a full-out MM IB under Gugg's umbrella. Heard they've been killing it and seem to have good culture (people seem nice, vibe I got was similar to people from Blair/Lincoln).
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