PJT Partners (PJT): Key takeaways from management meetings

Research evidence excerpt

PJT Partners (PJT): Key takeaways from management meetings

Equity Research

17 June 2026 | 6:50PM EDT

On June 17th, we hosted meetings with PJT’s: 1) Founder, Chairman & Chief James Yaro

+1(212)902-1913 |

Executive Officer, Paul Taubman; 2) Managing Partner, Ji-Yeun Lee; and 3) Head james.e.yaro@gs.com

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

of Investor Relations, Sharon Pearson. Further detail within.

Divyam Harlalka

+1(332)245-7818 |

Management struck a cautiously optimistic tone on the M&A backdrop, noting divyam.harlalka@gs.com

Goldman Sachs India SPL

that the recovery remains uneven across deal types. They acknowledged that

Matthew Wengthere is a two-speed investment banking market, with strategic/large-cap +1(212)902-8484 |

activity outperforming sponsors/mid-caps, with the timing/cadence of the matthew.weng@gs.comGoldman Sachs & Co. LLC

sponsor recovery still uncertain. The company noted that the overall M&A Lokesh Kumar Sangewar

market is up only modestly YTD YoY, after excluding AI-related and certain +1(332)245-7846lokesh.sangewar@gs.com|

idiosyncratic situations, although they expect M&A volumes could build from Goldman Sachs India SPL

current levels by year-end 2026. Management continue to view the current

regulatory environment as highly supportive of large-cap dealmaking. They indicated

that software M&A remains largely on hold, with nascent activity in this space

potentially beginning at some point, but for activity to likely build slowly, given

terminal value questions in parts of the sector.

PJT also expects software restructuring activity to slowly build over time,

beginning with certain liability management exercises of software companies with

near-term debt maturity walls.

Management noted that the hiring backdrop has become increasingly