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On his own After co-chairing Lehman Brother's investment banking division, Peter J. Solomon left to form his own firm in 1989. Solomon, who also served a stint as deputy mayor for economic policy and development under New York mayor Ed Koch, developed a reputation as a leading banker in the retail and distribution industries. His eponymous firm, an M&A boutique, has followed suit, first building its rep in the retail and consumer goods industries, and now branching out into other sectors, such as healthcare and media. A proficient boutique PJSC is one of Wall Street's most successful M&A specialty firms. Since its founding, the firm has advised on more than 150 deals. Recent deals have included pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson Corp's $14.46 billion acquisition of medical software supplier, completed in January 1999, and McKesson's proposed purchase of Ameri-Source Health Corp in 1997, which was dropped because of opposition from the Federal Trade Commission. The McKesson/HBO deal created the world's largest healthcare services company. Another of PJSC's big deals, the merger between office supply giants Staples and Office Depot proposed in 1997, was also blocked by the FTC. The firm was representing Office Depot in the deal. Office Depot again turned to Peter Solomon for its $2.71 billion acquisition of Viking Office Products, completed in 1998. Other recent deals that the firm has advised on include the sale of Centennial Cellular Corp. to an investor group for $1.6 billion in January 1999; the sale of U.K.-based real estate giant Jones Lang Wootton to LaSalle Partners Inc.; and Perry Ellis' sale to Supreme International Corp. Securities Data Company ranked PJSC No. 13 in the U.S. for completed deals by value for the six month period ending June 1999. The firm has also been busy with restructuring and other non-merger advisory work, including assignments with Zenith Electronics Corp., Bradlees, HomePlace Holdings, and the Official Creditors Committee of Barney's. PJSC also has built a successful business around private placements. In May 1999, it acquired the I-banking arm of Barington Capital Group, which focuses on private placements and high-yield financings up to $75 million.
With only about 32 bankers and a staff of about 50, positions at PJSC are extremely competitive. The firm hires both analyst and associate-level bankers for M&A, restructuring and corporate finance work. The firm provides contact information at its web site, located at www.pjsolomon.com "[PJSC] recruits at Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Berkeley, maybe Yale. But I don't think they've had too much luck. They also get a lot of resumes off the fax, so sending your resume by the fax is probably a good idea," says one contact. "They've just started hiring associates in the past year or two - on-campus - at Harvard and Wharton. The firm also recruits from the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, the University of Virginia, and Columbia. "I think it's better there to have a quantitative or finance background. You do go through training - it's about a month - and they do bring in accountants, but they really want you on the job really quickly," explains one insider. "If you have some experience, you're going to be happier. That's not to say that you can't get there without it." Says that contact: "The Wharton candidate is almost the ideal candidate for [PJSC]. They come in understanding discounted cash flows." As for those discounted cash flows and other yummy quantitative finance questions, "if you have it on your resume, you better be sure you can talk about it. If you have zero experience, you better be focused on the fact that you're smart. Bring up examples where you've been quantitative." Applicants can expect to travel to PJSC's headquarters twice and "definitely meet all the senior people at the firm." What about the big man himself? "Peter, if he's around, he'll pop his head in and say why Peter Solomon is great, but he won't ask you questions."
Deep M&A know-how "If you really want to learn how an M&A deal works," says a firm insider, "you'll get depth at Peter Solomon. You'll get depth, though you won't get the breadth." That contact elaborates: "They don't underwrite, so you don't get financing experiencing. You're not going to do an IPO or a debt deal. You'll get to see it, but you won't actually work on it." Although, now the firm dabbles in corporate finance. On the upside, "you definitely work on smaller teams. At Peter Solomon, the working group is one page of people. If you look at DLJ or Goldman, the working group list is 100 people." "You see a much smaller piece of a bigger deal at a bigger bank," says one insider. "At Peter Solomon, you're much more likely to see something from start to finish. You won't necessarily get to see as many things, but you'll know a lot more about what you've seen." Part of the team Getting to see more of deals also means working more closely with senior bankers, insiders say. "The senior banker contact is great. You just walk into the partners' offices, there's no appointment making," says one insider. "Even if there's a conference call, you can just walk into the office and listen to it if you want to, even if it's not something you're working on." Working at a small firm also provides for an extra type of learning experience for the business-minded. "At a lot of banks, you think of yourself as an investment banker and not part of a business," explains one insider. "At Peter Solomon, you get both. It's small enough so you understand what its like to run a business - which computer to buy, how best to market the firm. And if you're entrepreneurial and interested in what its like to run a professional services firm, that's really interesting." The astounding Peter Solomon Working with senior bankers, of course, can mean working with Peter Solomon, of whom, one insider notes: "You would hear the secretary say who was on the phone. It's incredible. If you think about the mid- to late-1980s or early 90s, and who were the hitters. It's those names, all the time." As far as working with Solomon is concerned, "he's extremely demanding, so he just expects you to know everything," says one insider. "He'll cut you some slack because you're a junior person, but if he wants something done, if you happen to be in his line of sight, you'll be the person to do it, whether it's VP work or not." Peter J. Solomon bankers work in "offices with a beautiful view overlooking Central Park in Manhattan." Says one insider: "There's lots of places to go shop nearby, though you have no time to do that. You will be there for dinner all the time, it's just a better place than downtown." The firm pays for its bankers' dinners, and "you get taxis home, and they reimburse you for those." Peter Solomon bankers take taxis "because to take a car from Midtown to Downtown it's $15, for a cab its $8. Those little things count. They?ll take care of you, but you have to recognize that they're a small firm and they have to take into account those things." Although small benefits like cabs versus limos may differ between PJSC and larger firms, "your hours won't be any different than at a big firm. [Workweeks are] definitely sometimes over 100 [hours], sometimes less than 70." Those late night hours might look a bit different at a smaller firm, though. "At a big firm if you're there at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, it looks like 4 o'clock in the afternoon. At a smaller firm, late at night, it gets a little lonely, but it's not that bad, you're getting work done." And, the firm helps make up for solitary nights with pretty decent social contact. "In the summer there's outings. We went on a fishing trip one time in the Hamptons. There was some other boat cruise thing that they did. We go bowling, do things at Chelsea Piers," says one former Peter J. Solomon banker. "There are times when, because you have that senior banker contact, the senior guy will say, 'OK, who wants to leave and can go to dinner. Before you know it, you and two other analysts will be out at a nice place and talking to a managing director about whatever."
Diane M. Coffey Director, PJSC 767 5th Avenue1 New York NY 10153 (212) 508-1633
Mergers and acquisitions advisory
Bear Stearns;Goldman Sachs;Lazard Freres & Co.;Merrill Lynch;Morgan Stanley Dean Witter More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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