The little guys are winning on Wall Street
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Chief executive officer of Moelis & Co., Ken Moelis smiles after ringing the bell to mark the company’s IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
It doesn’t take a position at a big investment bank to land a role on a big deal.
Smaller independent and boutique advisory firms have made a splash on the biggest mergers and acquisitions of 2016, working in seven on the top 10 deals in the first six months of the year, according to Dealogic.
They’ve hired some of the biggest names in the business, while also putting plans in place to develop their own talent.
And they’re also great places to work, according to Vault.com’s annual ranking of the best banks to work for. Smaller firms took five of the top nine places in the rankings.
Centerview Partners, cofounded in July 2006 by Blair Effron, Stephen Crawford and Rob Pruzan, placed third in the ranking, and took top spot in 10 of the 19 quality of life categories that Vault ranks.
“Centerview Partners continues to land some of the largest and most high-profile deals on the Street and has quickly become one of the most prestigious firms for professionals to have on their resume,” Derek Loosvelt, Vault Senior finance editor, said.
Here’s how the boutique firms stacked up:
8. Peter J. Solomon Company
Peter J. Solomon Company was No. 13 on Vault’s list, and snagged the top spots for both the “best banking firm for firm culture” and “best banking firms for hours.”
Pros
- “Great culture that values work/life balance”
- “Working with intelligent and respectful coworkers, including top senior people”
- “Compensation—better pay than the Street average”
Cons
- “Vacation policy”
- “No 401(k) match”
- “Sometimes long hours”
The Buzz
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“Recently lost that one big partner”
7. Houlihan Lokey
Houlihan Lokey was No.12 on Vault’s list, and was ranked No.2 for client interaction and No. 3 for the ability to challenge.
Pros
- “Great culture and great, smart colleagues
- “Challenging, interesting work and a lot of client exposure”
- “High quality deal flow”
- “Good work/life balance”
Cons
- “Unpredictable hours sometimes”
- “Learning curve is quite steep”
- “Sometimes the expectations are nearly impossible to meet”
The Buzz
- “Best restructuring banker”
- “Great in restructuring, not so great in other areas”
- “Well-positioned for energy downturn”
- “Not well known”
6. PJT Partners
PJT Partners, which spun off from Blackstone Group last October, was No. 10 on Vault’s list. It was No.1 for best banking firm for client interaction and No. 3 for best banking firm for relationship with managers.
Pros
- “Extremely bright and motivated people with integrity; senior bankers are intent on helping juniors learn the business”
- “Tons of great client experience and exciting deal flow”
- “Excellent exit opportunities”
Cons
- “Hours can be tough and unpredictable”
- “Name not yet established and definitely some growing pains with the transition from Blackstone”
- “Fewer resources than universal banks”
The Buzz
- “Excellent, elite boutique”
- “TBD after Blackstone spin-off—very new, but should be good”
- “Great management”
- “A bit of a Frankenbank right now—unclear if its plan will come together”
5. Moelis & Company
Moelis & Company jumped 7 spots to No. 9 in this year’s ranking. It also broke into the top 10 most prestigious banks, jumping three spots to No. 10.
Pros
- “Learning opportunities: a lot of deal and client exposure”
- “Great pay”
- “Exit opportunities”
Cons
- “Long hours”
- “Work/life balance”
- “Infrastructure”
- “Smart people, complicated engagements”
- “Sweatshop; very hardcore and intense”
- “Strong middle-market deal flow”
- “Hires MDs left and right and left but not sure about their quality”
4. Perella Weinberg Partners
Perella Weinberg Partners was No. 1 for the best banking firms for benefits, and No.2 for the best banking firms for vacation policies.
Pros
- “Smart, dedicated, high caliber colleagues that you enjoy spending time with and learning from”
- “Fantastic small-firm culture means analysts and associates feel more connected to senior members”
- “Working on challenging, high profile deals”
- “Hours can be grueling and unpredictable”
- “Amount of responsibility can be stressful”
- “Not well known internationally”
- “Great boutique”
- “Just lost their restructuring team but still good in M&A”
- “Good competitors”
3. Greenhill & Co.
Greenhill was No. 3 for best banking firms for hours, and No. 5 for best banking firms for LGBT individuals.
Pros
- “Tremendous amount of responsibility”
- “Blue-chip clients”
- “Excellent exit opportunities”
- “Hours can be long”
- “Fewer back-office resources than larger institutions”
- “Little opportunity for promotion at the analyst level”
The Buzz
- “Great boutique with a high quality M&A advisory business”
- “Trending downward after a great run”
- “Smart people, complicated engagements”
- “Have fallen off in last few years”
2. Evercore
Evercore remain unchanged at No.4 this year but advanced one spot on Vault’s prestige list. Its position was helped by robust M&A business as well as growth opportunities for junior bankers. The bank scored well in terms of quality of life and earned No.1 in formal training.
- “Fantastic culture”
- “A lot of responsibility early on and great compensation”
- “Great exit opportunities”
- “Hours can be tough and unpredictable”
- “Limited benefits”
- “Promotion policies”
- “Top-notch boutique—high quality M&A advisory business”
- “Not meeting up to the hype it created in terms of transaction experience”
- “Smart people, complicated engagements”
- “Not very strong in tech IB”
1. Centerview Partners
Centerview Partners was up a notch to No. 3 this year, and snagged the top spot in 10 of the 19 quality of life categories that Vaultranks, which includes the ability to challenge, compensation, firm leadership, informal training, hiring process, and promotion policies.
The firm also jumped five spots to No. 6 inVault’s banking prestige rankings.
- “Great analyst camaraderie and helpfulness; other analysts are smart, hardworking, and happy to help out where possible”
- “You learn a ton by working with the best M&A minds in the business on the most important deals”
- “Highest compensation on the Street—by a wide margin”
- “Very demanding and unpredictable hours—when things get busy, they get very, very busy”
- “No formal policies around work/life balance”
- “We like to stay under the radar so not many people know who we are”
The Buzz
- “The best investment bank”
- “High caliber senior bankers”
- “Massive deal volume”
- “On fire”
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