Private Equity firms in LA? Reputations, culture, compensation?
Hi all, I wanted to ask and glean a more updated view of PE funds in LA. The ones I'm interested in are Ares, Oaktree, Platinum, Aurora, Marlin, Pacific Coast (or others I'm missing) in terms of returns, reputation, culture etc. Would love any thoughts! Thanks!
Any thoughts anybody? Would be super helpful!
Clearlake, Gores, LGP, Brentwood are all very strong in terms of returns and rep. I've heard culture at Clearlake and Brentwood in particular is great. I would assume comp at all these large shops is pretty good..One thing to consider is each of these firms have very different investmetn strategies (i.e. Gores/Platinum=value; Brentwood=growth)
I can comment on the larger LA PE shops. Oaktree, Leonard Green & Partners and Ares are probably the largest/most well known/prestigious shops based in LA. Leonard Green and Ares are also one of the few prestigious PE firms that hire straight out of undergrad (although they rarely hire outside of schools like Harvard, Wharton etc.). All of these firms have an unbelievable reputation. Leonard Green has been known to keep their team small (harder to break in) while Ares and Oaktree have a larger headcount. Oaktree is also solid in the distressed debt space
Insight on which recruiters they use?
+1 to above. Only thing I would add is that LGP has discontinued their analyst program while Ares is expanding theirs (slowly transitioning to more analyst rather than associate hires in PE)
Know someone from their team who said they recruited out of UG mainly from Notre Dame and Ivey.
This was definitely true a few years ago, but has since been discontinued (last class of analysts started in Summer 2019). They used to do OCR at ND, Ivey, and Wharton.
Thank you so much both! Do either of you have insight on Platinum, Pacific, or Marlin?
Have worked with Platinum a few times and know some of the guys on that team. Used to be pretty fratty, but has changed in the last 5 years (largely due to some newer hires). Overall, very solid reputation and better culture than similar sized firms.
LGP and Oaktree are clearly the top in terms of reputation, pedigree. It's been awhile and I'm sure comp structure has changed, but those two firms also paid very, very well. Ares is also a huge player but I've heard negative things about culture.
Have heard bad things about culture at Platinum, Clearlake and to a certain extent Marlin. But those firms are clearly doing something right because they're all continuing to grow and raise new funds.
I've also heard negative things about Ares' culture - don't know how true this is though
it's true lol
Cross-reference Gores and Platinum for a good time read
Platinum & Gores: Agree with above that it used to be overwhelmingly frat boy culture. Nothing wrong with that if you played sports, was in a fraternity or sorority and maintained your grades while in college.
Ares & Oak: Too big to have any sort of stereotypical culture. I agree that Oak performs well in the distressed debt space. Also Canyon Capital Partners.
Guggenheim's PE division made some noise when they acquired the Dodgers with Magic Johnson and his consortium of LP's.
Fortress also has a presence in Century City.
Does anyone know how analyst recruiting works at LGP / Ares / Oaktree? Like is it all on campus interviews at Ivys or is there more of an informal process?
freeman spogli, levine leichtman, colony capital
Hear really bad things about Ares. Know several kids who received offers (2-3 years ago) and turned them down. Also heard similar from people at the MBA level
Has anyone heard more about Freeman Spogli and Marlin Equity in terms of reputation, culture, and bschool ops? Seems like a few people mentioned both here
Anybody on freeman/Marlin/Clearlake?
Bump
Bumping because the above seems pretty inconsistent on Clearlake. Thank you both for commenting, however! Would love if anyone has more color
Interested as well in Marlin/Clearlake/Freeman/Brentwood. Anybody know if the ones mentioned above take consultants? Looks like Marlin does from their team page but anybody else?
Bump on Clearlake
Some folks PM’ed me about Clearlake if you’d like to DM me. Can also post publicly for others to see if helpful
Insight on MM PE Shops in Los Angeles (Originally Posted: 06/01/2016)
All,
Been an certified active poster on WSO for awhile now (primarily in the IB forum) and am looking for some insight on upper middle market PE shops in LA. I'm using a throwaway account just to reinforce some anonymity while seeking this advice. As a brief background, I accepted an offer during the traditional PE recruiting period early last year and will be starting at an upper middle market shop in LA this summer. Recently, I have heard read some stories online about some potential issues at that shop (I don't want to list specifics publicly in the thread, but these issues at the firm have been published in news articles online). Further, recently I have received some calls from recruiters I spoke frequently with while going through the recruiting process last year. They have mentioned similar things about the shop and have asked if I might be interested in considering other shops if last-minute opportunities should arise.
As of now, I am not considering other opportunities, and still remain committed to joining the firm. However, I would greatly appreciate any real insight from WSO members who actually work in the industry in LA. I am reaching out to the WSO community in this forum to see if there are any more senior members who can provide me with some relevant and up-to-date insight on middle market/upper middle market PE firms in LA. I am doing this in part because almost all of my personal network of contacts that are a year or two ahead of me are doing other buy-side roles in NY or SF, and aren't really "tapped in" to the scene in LA.
I am happy to share some more detail via private message, but thought this would be a good starting point for a discussion. As I mentioned earlier, I regularly post in the IB forum as a Certified User and would like to think I have always provide valuable and insightful advice to others in that space. That being said, I would greatly appreciate any insight from more experienced members in this field.
Thanks
I work in LA upper MM PE. Feel free to DM me.
Thanks man. Would greatly appreciate the insight. Unfortunately with the new account I can't initiate a convo with DM. Would you mind messaging me first?
@notks123 similar to above, if you wouldn't mind.
Same, would think it's my fund but we didn't pick up any incoming associates haha
What makes Ares culture bad? Also, does anyone know if the culture has changed since 2017?
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