Marlborough partners
Thoughts on the shop? How does it compare to top debt advisory places (eg Lazard / Rothschild)? Potential exit opps?
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Have a fair bit of deal flow but mych smaller deals than EBs. Unfortunately most of the legit guys (LevFin bankers, Direct lending, special sits shops, PE shops) pretty much all shit on debt advisors because let’s be honest most of them are pretty clueless beyond process logistics and comparing a +400 vs +500 margin. Exits will be direct lending at best.
Tomorrow partners is the only debt advisor that is a bit respectable but they are ex-lawyers so are very good at docs.
They work with Equistone, Bridgepoint, Oaktree and the like, seems decent to be fair
Its not for who you work for that’s the issue, its what you do in the role. But look if that’s the only job you have go for it, you can always move from there and who knows maybe you like it.
you dont do shit, process monkey, filling out Q&A lists, Debt Memos, Lender Educations, IM recycled nonsense, or crappy high-level decks...
Most of the real legit guys (ls credit shops / special sits funds) pretty much all shit on corporate finance "advisors" because let's be honest most of them are pretty clueless beyond process logistics, doing nice slides and comparing a 12x vs 13x EBITDA multiple. Exits will be private equity at best.
Their value add is often the market intel. When we hire a banker/advisors its to thank them for letting us know about X asset or introducing us to Y person. Good ones are very rare. I’m sure you’d agree, what juniors do - that nobody cares.
I don't think it's common to exit in PE. Most will stay in debt advisory and some into MM credit funds
EDIT: I know that marlborough has a sort of fixed contract with Equistone and has to work on all of their deals. They're really not making much fees from those
I know an MD that worked there and lateral in a boutique I interned at. He couldn't bring any deals (maybe he was let go), and to echo to what was said, he has a levfin background. But overall, I think it's a decent shop.
Saw some that went to HL, Rothschild and BofA as well (more juniors)
Any info on Axis Arbor? One of the cofounders of Marlborough set it up
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More recent view below:
- Dealflow was decent but also taking every deal available
- Churn is incredible high (seniors as well as juniors) and there are good reasons for it
- Atmosphere is atrocious working with some partners, expect to work most weekends and holidays and expected to answer emails at any time of the night
- Working hours are long for debt advisory (albeit not quite M&A)
- Work, especially for juniors, is extremly mundane - mostly sending out NDAs, collecting feedback grids, arranging calls/meetings and distributing material
- Modelling largely irrelevant / extremly simplified
- Slides for IMs will be produced under extremly tight deadlines as no one respects debt advisors/input
Heard by now people are jumping ship before even finishing the year/receiving their bonus
Do you have any insight on base&bonus on Associate/Associate Director level?
Prior years comp to my knowledge was usually base below market, bonus above market. I guess that makes sense if you expect large chunks of your team to leave before bonus (heard they now split the bonus to force you to stay longer?)
I met some of these guys recently, seems like they're enjoying the work? Some long hours for sure but that's the nature of the beast.
Honestly this seems like this is an ex-intern/junior venting about the kinds of things interns would do anywhere.
Also didn't that director leave to start their own business? Hardly jumping ship.
i heard that smoking is compulsory, and analysts get 5 smoking breaks per day. I remember when i did my analyst stint there, an analyst was getting bullied because he was smoking Camel blue and not Marlborough. To get to MD level you need to be ripping 3 Marlborough red's per day.
Any idea on how this compares with Rothschild debt advisory ? And whether comments on debt advisors not being respected / not good candidates for good exits applies to Rothschild as well ?
Rothschild and HL are top tier in debt advisory. Way above.
Big difference - they hired many people in the past, so the output of juniors into the market was mixed (not great for reputation). Would agree that reputation/brand will be significantly stronger at the tier 1 shops.
exits?
Often!
Clowns - not sure how they are allowed to exist as a firm. These guys never reply to emails after asking you if you're interested in a deal (and you say yes).
can someone exit to a debt group at EB later or?
Yes possible, but that goes for basically any semi reputable debt advisor (even B4) where you’ll avoid the notoriously terrible culture.
damn is culture really that bad?
Exits are ass from my knowledge not a strong IBD
Getting asked a lot from headhunters if that would be an option -> no thanks. Looks like they desperately need people. So far haven’t met a single person that wants to work there (including current employees).
I’ve hired them before and know a lot of guys who work / have worked there.
It’s good shop, particularly if you want to gain a lot of experience quickly and get skilled up. They do the more difficult credits. For run of the mill stuff there are cheaper debt advisors.
It’s definitely an intense working environment but you will get a huge amount of deal flow / experience in a very short time. As a I say, they do the more difficult credits so you will learn a lot. You will also gain experience across a range of scenarios e.g. mid-market unitranche, cap market, restructurings etc. It’s particularly attractive for someone with a non-standard background who is trying to break in to the lev fin world.
You will need a lot of determination to succeed, they don’t suffer fools (hence the churn) and a lot of the comp comes at year-end so you need to survive… Plenty of people have stayed for long periods though.
I’ve seen people leave to credit funds (at least 3 from the top of my head) / PE (at least 2) / but also other banks / advisory
difficult credits? on the performing side? What are you talking about? A&Es or refinancings? all the big more difficult credits are done by EVR, HL, Roth, with in-house expertise that they can loop in from the rx teams on workouts and real liability management exercises don't know what you are talking about...
Never worked at the firm but had an interview with them a while ago and although the person was really nice they didn't seem to enjoy the work much. And from what they said on the interview it wasn't about taking complicated mandates and structuring the tranches, restructuring, etc. instead, I remember they were clear that as they work mostly with sponsors (who they mentioned were pretty good in structuring/managing their debt and already knew what type and how much debt they wanted) their work is more IR where they just try to fundraise and you work mostly on admin stuff.
The comment above labeled most helpful seems a lot more similar to the impression I got from the place from interviewing there.
(The firm might be great, I don't know, this is just my impression from the interviews)
Hello Marlborough Partners PR team
One of the first proper European debt advisory shops that dealt mostly with Sponsors who don't have their own internal capital markets team i.e., MM/LMM European private equity guys. Work hard-play hard culture. The type of shop who'll ask the lev fin guys to send in their terms sheets, then literally take the most borrower-friendly terms and re-distribute saying "this is where the market is". Founding Partners have moved on having made enough money in this firm and the previous incarnation. High churn rate but depends on what you're looking for in a job.
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