Moelis Is Said to Have Told Staff to Treat Young Bankers Well

(Bloomberg) -- Moelis & Co. co-President Jeff Raich reminded top bankers in a meeting this week to treat young bankers well as the firm embarks on another hiring push, according to people familiar with the matter.

Raich, 51, addressed managing directors after industry forum Wall Street Oasis posted parts of an email that a “Moelis Staffer” sent to the firm’s analysts after discovering many of them weren’t in the office after midnight, according to a blog post on the website.

“Given that new staffings continue to flow in and you are all very near capacity, the only way I can think of to differentiate among you is to see who is in the office in the wee hours of the morning,” the Moelis manager, who wasn’t identified in the blog post, wrote in the email.

Moelis, the mergers and acquisitions adviser founded by Wall Street veteran Ken Moelis, has been hiring bankers known to be younger go-getters, betting that rising stars can be more productive than expensive rainmakers later in their careers. In the meeting, Raich acknowledged that there’s been a lot of work to do -- arguing that’s a good thing -- and reiterated that the firm is hiring more people at the junior rank of analyst to spread the workload, one of the people said.

“The meeting was about preserving our analyst experience in the midst of heightened growth,” company spokeswoman Andrea Hurst said. “We are an entrepreneurial growth company, and all work incredibly hard to deliver the absolute best for our clients.”

Moelis increased banker headcount by about 15 percent last year and will have its largest-ever summer intern class in the 2018 season, she said. The firm is also planning for the entrance of permanent hires this summer, two people said, noting there is typically some attrition in April after bonuses are paid.

The post on Wall Street Oasis sparked a range of comments, with some defending the point made by the email. “This is how all investment banks work,” a commenter wrote. And, to be sure, the manager who sent the email concluded it on a friendly note.

“On the bright side, we only have a week and a half until our class dinner!” the author wrote. “Looking forward to blowing off some steam with everyone!”

To contact the reporters on this story: Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net, Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net, David Scheer

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