Hi all,
Recently accepted an offer for SA at PJT/Laz/HL in a group that includes RX. Interested in exit opps a few years down the road. I know distressed HF/PE are very popular and feasible from all three, but what about traditional PE? PJT and Lazard have more traditional M&A exposure for juniors, so I would assume they have better placement. On the other hand, I've heard HL is more supportive of their analysts who want to leave. Would appreciate it if somebody would shed some light on relative placement of the three into mid/upper MM PE.
Note: not thinking about reneging, just curious and possibly looking to shop around if I get a FT offer.
Lazard and Blackstone restructuring traditionally have had strong PE placement, especially Blackstone which typically had sent kids to either the top HFs or top PEs. HL has comparable exits to distressed credit funds, but seems to be far worse for regular PE. Generally speaking however, most guys who do restructuring will want to continue to work in the distressed space. None of these firms are opposed to recruiting.
What do you mean by "a group that includes RX"? All three firms have distinct restructuring groups where you will not generally work on M&A assignments outside of a restructuring context - which is very different than the LBOs that PE firms do.
Thanks, SB'ed you. Yeah, "a group that includes RX" is pretty awkward phrasing on my part. Lazard MM recruiting (at least for SA) is combined M&A/RX and I wanted to be as vague as possible about which of them I signed with.
All three (uncertain how PJT will fare) will get you get you opportunities to interview at all the top Distressed HF / PE funds. RX analysts tend not to be interested in Vanilla PE funds as much as M&A analysts so you don't see them exit into that space all that much but they can if they wanted to.
The analysts at these RX shops are generally going to the top distressed funds or funds with mixed private /public equity and credit strategies and not regular LBO funds but if you are interested in top regular PE you can and will get the opportunities to interview at pretty much any top regular PE fund with any of these three groups. The reason is because RX is a highly technical experience and you will build very detailed models encapsulating complicated and messy capital structures and these particular groups always win the best deals in the RX space.
Wouldn't say HL has worse exits into regular PE. My friends at the BB I was at previously have mentioned that they saw a few HL guys at some of the regular upper tier PE and MF PE interviews.
pjt rx, laz rx, and HL rx will all get you interviews with top mm PE firms and give you relevant experience to draw on for interviews if that's what you decide you're interested in. In addition, these groups will enable you to interview with top HFs (distressed and otherwise).
re: "PJT and Lazard have more traditional M&A exposure for juniors, so I would assume they have better placement. On the other hand, I've heard HL is more supportive of their analysts who want to leave."
I disagree that HL is "more supportive" of their analysts who want to leave. pjt (and the legacy BX group) are very interested in their analysts getting the exits they want. Laz might seem "less supportive" if you end up in a larger industry group where theres less exposure to seniors and they aren't as willing to go to bat for you.
RX guys, especially from BX-PJT/HL/Laz, get incredible exit opportunities. I have a friend at HL and can confirm that they get exits into top notch distressed and non-distressed funds. They place into MF PE, top MM PE, and Corp Dev/Strategy roles in addition to distressed (PE /HF) / regular credit funds.
Most Laz RX guys tend to strictly stay in the distressed space but that's definitely not for a lack of opportunity and rather because of the way smaller sample size and interest. HL RX guys go all over the place and that's because they have way more RX analysts. BX-PJT RX guys tend to go to multi-strat distressed and non-distressed HFs.
Most RX guys tend to stay in the distressed world as they probably find it more interesting but they absolutely have the opportunity to move into more traditional roles like Corp Dev or vanilla PE.
I used to think RX guys pigeonhole themselves into distressed roles down the line but apparently that's not true.
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You'll be fine at all the places. If you show HHs that you clearly know what you wanna do you'll get the hookups.
Obviously some firms more supportive than others. PJT rx tends to be very supportive since that's how they try to sell juniors; HL should be the same, maybe not to same extent since BX rx had some stellar analysts (not sure if it'll continue).
Doesn't look like its continuing since people seem to be rejecting their offers but in my opinion, still a solid place to be.
Dude your persistence in spreading misinformation about PJT is absolutely hilarious
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If you want to work at a traditional lbo shop, your best bet would be to stay in M&A. However, the skill set you gain in Rx wouldn't stop you from doing pe by any means, just most ppl who enter the space tend to be more interested in distressed/special situation pe & hfs.
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PJT R&R usually exits to distressed HF / PE afaik (the guy I know there well went to York), but you could probably do traditional buyout. Laz RX is bucketed in M&A afaik so you can probably do either traditional or distressed. with HL RX I don't know but i think primarily distressed or MM buyout. EVR RX to my knowledge is not a placement group like the other 3 are.
Laz and PJT are somewhat comparable with PJT coming out better from an exits perspective (especially for event-driven or distressed HF; you typically dont see Laz ppl going to Farallon for instance). HL third, still exits well.
If you have a PJT R&R offer I would recommend you accept it right now
Laz RX is separate from M&A. I think Moelis is the only generalist xproducts; all other RX shops are distinct from M&A.
Know guys at all three places Laz/PJT/HL and exits are very comparable across the three.
Have heard of Anchorage and SVP from Laz recently as well as Highfields, York, Centerbridge, Silverpoint for PJT and Elliot, Silverpoint, Centerbridge, Oaktree, & Point State for HL. Point is any of the three will get you there. All top-notch.
Even some of the other ones like Rothschild and Moelis place their RX guys very well. At these shops its more dependent on the individual rather than the where you come from as they will all get interviews.
Is the HL position in RX called a Financial Analyst - Financial Restructuring? Or is this another position as opposed to what everyone is referring to?
No that’s what it is called. It’s all semantics.
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