Sellside M&A - Quality Question
Not in IB - work at a MM PE fund now as a 1st year VP. A little bit of a rant, but also some questions for IB mid-levels on what they would do.
We hired a MM bank Blair / Wells / Baird / Lincoln type in a tier 1 city and it's ridiculous how bad this team is. They'll send full CIM pages bracketed for the "[CEO / PE fund to fill in]" (literally with that) and not even take a first cut at trying... that's literally your job.
I've flagged this to them on multiple occasions for them to maybe take the first cut here and that it doesnt need to be 100% correct, but just something for us to review and refine. They fix it for like a day, then revert right back to the sloppiness (from VP on down).
I am not in biopharma or anything like that - it's literally widget manufacturing and not that hard to understand what this business does.
I made the entire model and am working on the data pack because they're seemingly asleep at the wheel.
My whole team is super frustrated - our partner emailed their group head to voice our frustrations - let's see if this helps (I doubt it)!
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Has IB shifted meaningfully since I left? My old VPs would've broken my legs if I sent anything like what I receive on a daily basis externally
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How would you (mid-levels, and even associates) approach this in a different angle?
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some insights and advice regarding your situation:
1. Has IB shifted meaningfully since I left?
2. How would you (mid-levels, and even associates) approach this in a different angle?
Additional Considerations:
By addressing these points, you can better manage the situation and ensure that your projects are completed to the high standards expected in the industry.
Sources: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/how-has-ib-changed-you?customgpt=1, "Leaving IB Soon, Final Rants" - The Follow-Up, How much damage has banking done to your life?, How much damage has banking done to your life?, The lighter side of IB! (Hopefully)
You use the wrong bank! Go to bank land and get new bank!
I mean the only thing you can do is escalate and be their VP.
Get on a call and give them tasks like you would a VP in IB. Then ask them to review internally before sending to you.
You do get what you pay for. Blair/Lincoln/Baird aren't going to give you decent service for pennies.
A few reactions. I'm also at a place with much larger minimum fees vs. the types of banks you mentioned, so some of these might not hold true at more of a MM oriented bank.
If you’re using Wells, then that was an awful decision from the get go. Wells is clearly trying to move on from the MM cookie cutter sell sides. They aren’t allocating any resources for those types of deals and rightfully so. Ton of work for what a $3m fee? Awful.
You should hit up stifel. I did my analyst years there, and we never pulled anything like this. Worked with some awful assets too.
That's pretty shocking TBH if Blair or Baird based on past experience. I think part of it is there has been a gap in quality the past couple of years where VPs and Associates are being crushed and incoming analysts aren't holding their weight. That doesn't excuse the fact that the client service is shit and normally VPs or Associates compensate by working harder and taking a bigger role in drafting.
Additionally, you hired this advisor for their creds and senior bankers. Unfortunately, what we've seen happening is senior bankers are pushed to focus on origination when times are slow, so they are actually less active in some respects on deals. There's a few MMs where VPs or even experienced Associates are effectively running the entire process and they are outsourcing everything (e.g., accounting to sell side QofE, legal negotiations to lawyers, etc.).
If this is Baird, I would be highly surprised. They are known for their MM Industrials group being sharp. Blair would also surprise me but their Industrials team is not as built out as Baird.
Stifel, Lincoln, or WF would not surprise me. Have never heard good things about WF no matter what and Stifel / Lincoln are usually on LMM transactions with shit assets, so it is hard to give a shit and do your job.
If Baird or Blair, it must be super low fee and not worth it for them. Talking <~$3M.
they don't care - i think they've shown it from their quality of work. Usually it's because they have better paying clients for other projects or they are pitching and your fees aren't worth it and they're just taking what they can get.
I will suggest changing banks.
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