Anyone work in healthcare high finance?

I would also be interested in this Q&A, or hearing about healthcare finance experiences in general

Interviewing for a healthcare PE role right now. Will fill you guys on what the job's like if I do make it.

Currently interning at a PE, and focusing on healthcare. The deal flow is pretty slow, and honestly not as exciting as I thought it would be

HC M&A is dominated by BB and upper MMs. This is becuz HC companies are typically relationship based, and a lot of the top firms distribute fees and M&A mandates via RC commitment (revolving credit facility). Because the smaller firms do not have much in terms of balance sheet, they can only focus on M&A advisory and smaller acquisitions (if anything). Thus, at the top of the field (at least in IB), JPM healthcare is by far the top, primarily due to the fact that they have a ridiculous BS and can take on ridic amounts of risk.

@ the MM level, healthcare IB is a sweatshop because there are so many firms competing for a limited # of mandates (plus HC companies don't really have as much activity in terms of M&A, tho REITs finance pretty heavily w/ debt/equity).

BBs will have sweatshop like hours solely due to the amount of deals/pitching, but not as much as MM firms (which is why HC shops have the "sweatshop" rep)

hope this helped :) wuld

A few comments that stood out to me from this thread, mostly in reference to culture and hours since mudkipz covered the industry aspect: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/why-are-the-hours-so-bad-in-this-group

PowerMonkey:

Healthcare is a very broad space with a ton of small players. The fewer players in an industry, the easier it is to cover (less pitching by virtue of number of people to pitch to). The larger the industry players are, the better coverage, financials, etc there tends to be.

So, when you have a large, fragmented space full of VC sized companies you are gonna have to work a ton. Combine this with a few large players that are always looking at huge time consuming deals (in a different part of healthcare) and the hours suck. Plus throw in the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect, that is people who go into healthcare know its long hours and their seniors oblige them.

This is the same reason why Tech groups often kill you.

GameTheory:

Health care groups get a bad rep, in my opinion. It's true, the hours are generally longer, but it's pretty managable. UBS HC is pretty much who people can point to as a true-to-life example of the stereotype, but for them it's a combination of the actual hours and the treatment of the senior guys that perpetuates everything.

Every group is going to work you hard. How hard they work you is all relative and honestly, incremental. It sounds wierd, but I'd much rather work 90 hours a week for nice guys than 80 hours a week for assholes.

Health care groups cover many silos ranging from fledgling biotech companies, to large public healthcare services companies (hospitals and nursing homes), to giant managed care companies (insurance). If you're working in NY, you will probably focus more on services, as biotech is oftentimes covered on the west coast. That being said, you may find yourself helping out one office or the other depending on the needs. Overall, I'd say health care groups work more consistent hours with fewer ebbs and flows than other industry groups. So ultimate range is 70 to 100 hour weeks, you might have more weeks in the upper end of that range and on a more consistant basis than your counterparts.

GenghisKhan:

Why did Soviet conscripts perenially beat their younger counterparts within an inch of their lives, and sometimes beyond (the fatality rate for conscripts in training was mind boggling, in a phenemenon known as dedovschina)?

Because it was inbred into the very fabric of the culture. Why is that way at UBS healthcare? Ben has a lot to do with that. It's a group built in his image, based upon his values and formed by his priorities.

So why is the healthcare so similar across Wall Street? If you asked me my opinion, it's Ben once again. Remember when he and Geoff Harris were Smith Barney healthcare, for all practical purposes. They dominated the sector. Today, much of Wall Street's healthcare groups are seeded by his former proteges and colleagues. Or by bankers who grew up competing with Ben, and as a result sometimes became more demanding, ruthless and indifferent to suffering in order to match him.

Just an opinion, of course.