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Evercore strengthens European team with Citi exit

Kaan Kesedar, formerly a managing director at Citi in London, is leaving to join Evercore as it bolsters its financial sponsors & PE advisory footprint in Europe. Previously, Evercore also poached other senior Citi dealmakers and has been executing expansion moves in Europe, such as acquiring the UK advisory boutique Robey Warshaw. This hire is more than a personnel change — it reflects how mid-sized advisory firms like Evercore are building out scale and credibility in Europe by luring proven dealmakers away from incumbents. It also demonstrates the competitive dynamics for senior talent in investment banking: as firms double down on growth in particular geographies or segments (like financial sponsors), the best bankers become strategic targets. For Citigroup, it’s a signal of talent risk amid internal restructuring and reallocation of resources.

Student Takeaway: For us finance students, Kesedar’s move underscores how important geography and specialization are in banking careers. If you aim to work on global PE deals or cross-border advising, positioning yourself in markets like London or Milan — and developing expertise in sponsors/private equity — can open doors. Also, knowing that top firms aggressively recruit senior bankers suggests earlier networking and relationship-building matter, especially in localized hubs

Goldman Sachs & T. Rowe Price Deepen Collaboration

Goldman will invest up to $1B in T. Rowe Price and jointly launch public-private investment platforms, aiming to expand access to private markets in retirement/wealth channels. The partnership will launch new co-branded model portfolios, target-date strategies, and integrate private markets exposure with T. Rowe’s distribution capabilities and Goldman’s alternative asset strength. The firms are collaborating to deliver an innovative, scalable advisory platform for advisors and other RIAs to offer managed retirement accounts at scale in-plan and out-of-plan. This includes integrating retirement planning and advice from the firms into the T. Rowe Price record-keeping and Individual Investor platforms.

Why it Matters: This collaboration signals a shift in how retail and wealth firms are bringing private markets to broader investor bases. Firms like Goldman are using their balance sheet and alternative asset expertise to tap into distribution networks (like T. Rowe) that already access millions of individual and retirement clients. It also reflects the pressure on traditional asset managers to diversify, grow products beyond public equities, and capture fee premium via alternatives. T. Rowe Price’s stock jumped ~6% on the news, showing investor optimism about the strategic pivot.

Definition: The Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) represents a company’s average cost of financing — the rate it must earn on its investments to satisfy all its capital providers (debt holders and equity investors). It combines the cost of debt and the cost of equity, weighted by their proportion in the company’s capital structure.

Formula:

Where:

Example:
If a company is financed with 60% equity costing 10% and 40% debt costing 5% with a 25% tax rate, its WACC is roughly 7.5%. That means any project or investment must earn above 7.5% to add value

Why it Matters: WACC is one of the most important concepts in corporate finance. It’s the benchmark rate companies use when evaluating projects, acquisitions, or investments. In investment banking and valuation, WACC is used to discount cash flows in DCF models and determine a company’s intrinsic value.

Student takeaway: Mastering WACC is essential for finance students — it bridges the gap between capital structure theory and valuation practice. Understanding how debt, equity, and taxes influence a firm’s financing cost helps you think like both an investor and a CFO.

Mistake: Overemphasis without relevance

It’s very common, and very easy, to talk about your many accomplishments, achievements, and awards in interviews. However, if you don’t back that up with why it matters and how it applies to the role you’re interviewing for, you might have a difficult time landing that position.

Try to frame your past experiences and accomplishments from the lens of the position, interviewers like to see how your past can aid you in your future at their firm, bank, etc. For example, if you led a finance club event or built a mini financial model, explicitly tie it to analytical, teamwork, or client-facing skills relevant to finance roles.

Tip: Take advantage of the time you have now to achieve those accomplishments that will help you land a future role that you desire. If you’re interested in investment banking, then join your schools investment banking club. If they don’t have one, then make one.

If it you think you’ve heard this before in a Campus Capital issue, you have. The importance of not only understanding the numbers but learning to speak them is crucial. In finance, it’s not enough to crunch numbers—you need to communicate what they mean. Whether it’s explaining a company’s leverage ratio, discussing valuation multiples, or walking through an LBO model, your ability to translate data into a clear story sets you apart. Employers value candidates who can take complex analysis and make it digestible for clients, teammates, or even non-finance professionals.

Student takeaway: Practice explaining financial concepts out loud, as if you’re teaching a classmate. If you can clearly explain why a company’s 25% debt-to-asset ratio signals conservative financing, you’re building both technical and client-facing skills—two things recruiters love to see.

Fifth Third Bancorp is acquiring Comerica in an all-stock deal worth $10.9B, forming the 9th largest U.S. bank and expanding presence in the Southeast, Texas, California, and the Midwest.

Breakdown:

Consolidation is accelerating in regional banking—scale matters more than ever. The deal shows how banks aim to boost diversity of earnings (commercial banking, payments, wealth).

The Top 10 Schools Hired by EY

Based on available firm profiles, alumni data, and campus-recruiting sources, here are schools frequently on EY’s recruiting radar:

1. University of Southern California (USC Marshall)

2. University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)

3. University of Florida (Warrington)

4. University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)

5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Gies)

6. University of Michigan (Ross)

7. Harvard University

8. Stanford University

9. University of California, Berkeley

10. Princeton University

Being at one of these schools often means more frequent EY campus visits, info sessions, networking events, case competitions, and internship pipelines. That gives you early exposure. EY and EY-Parthenon emphasize not only technical/academic strength but also broad skill sets (analytics, teamwork, communications) and often look within these schools where students have relevant course work, leadership, or consulting/finance-adjacent experiences. While these schools give a leg up, EY also recruits from non‐targets. Strong performance, networking, relevant internships, and demonstrating the right mindset can offset going to a less “prestigious” school.

I hope you all are taking advantage of the rare time you have now as a college student, the more focus you put into investing in your future, the more secure you will be in the long run. Regardless of your year, you should be attending any career/internship fairs at your school, even if you go to a non-target and you think that no “prestige” companies will be in attendance. Going to these events builds hands on experience on networking and conversation at a professional level.

Lastly, Campus Capital will now be released bi-weekly. I love every second of writing and publishing Campus Capital, however my time is currently being consumed with academics, athletics, and other extra circulars. I have made the decision that I feel I can make Campus Capital better if I release bi-weekly. This gives me more time to work on each issue rather than rushing to pump out issues, tarnishing the quality of each release. This change is not permanent. This is only for the time being so I can have time to balance my life. Thank you for your understanding.

Next week we will discuss networking, building a resume, and coffee-chats.

Welcome to Campus Capital. Each week, we’ll break down the finance world in 5 minutes or less.
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My name is Braunsen Bax, I’m a honors finance and accounting student-athlete at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois (45 mins outside of Chicago). I graduated from Walton High School in Marietta Georgia. Outside of the classroom I compete in the throws events for the Track & Field team, 35 time NCAA DIII national champions. I’ve had a love of finance and the business world since my sophomore year of high school and started Campus Capital to share that love with my community and like minded individuals in a similar position, with similar goals. My mission is to help people like me shape their futures to ensure they reach their goals while being up to date and educated in the Finance industry.