6 Free Financial Modeling Lessons...and More.

Enter your e-mail below to get our new Free Modeling Tutorials ($200+ Value).

private equity
 

Ask me anything… I'm a Private Equity Analyst in Shanghai

NiuShi's picture
PE
(Baboon, 136
 
Points)
 on 5/19/13 at 12:00pm
shanghai.png

I'm currently a Private Equity Analyst in Shanghai, China. Academically, I graduated from a target school majoring in Economics and Chinese. I also spent my time at college as the president of an on-campus student organization related to Finance and Economics and a volunteer for a local school program. I have always had a nose for digging deeply into matters that I can't grasp as first, and thus trying to make sense of financials and business strategies in China seemed like a perfect challenge after college.

After spending some time as an Analyst for a publicly-listed Chinese company, I networked my way to my current position through meeting a few members of the firm and eventually the stars aligned. At this point my role is mostly in portfolio company management and deal screening, but have strong exposure to the Directors and Investment Managers in the firm as well. I'm happy to speak about the daily life of a private equity analyst here in Shanghai, differences between PE in the U.S. and China, networking in China, and general topics related to finance in Asia.

Principal Investment Arm of Insurance Company

asdf12345's picture
(Chimp, 3
 
Points)
 on 5/13/13 at 12:22pm

Hi all,

Considering interviewing for this company. Nearly $10 billion AUM. They do 1/3 equity co-invest, 1/3 mezz investments and 1/3 fund of funds - no control investments. Ultimately I was hoping to break into middle market PE, which I likely can still do, but probably with a smaller fund (think $200MM to $1B latest fund size). Was hoping to get some of your thoughts. Is it better to get a larger name on my resume (I come from middle market i-banking) even though I won't be doing control investments, or is it better to get the direct PE experience even though it might be a less well known fund? I'm definitely interested in the operational side of things, which unfortunately I won't get much of with the opportunity mentioned above.

Thanks in advance!

Thoughts on Recruiting as a Third Year

Longdistance's picture
IB
(Chimp, 12
 
Points)
 on 5/11/13 at 11:10pm

I recently got an offer with a lower-MM PE fund that had some issues raising its most recent fund and am hesitant to accept. I am also not crazy about the firm in general. Alternatively, I can accept a third year offer to stay with my group (top industry group at a non-MS/GS BB) and recruit over the next several months for opportunities with other funds. What do you recommend? Do you view a third year as a positive or negative for PE recruiting?

Acquiring shares for control

NoTimeForSpace's picture
IB
(Baboon, 169
 
Points)
 on 5/9/13 at 12:28pm
monkey.jpg

I (we) are trying to acquire a greater percentage stake in a formerly public company. We currently have a significant control position, but would like to sell the company and require over 90% equity stake to not have to deal with sign-offs from the many disparate shareholders. There are no significant (i.e. greater than .2%) shareholders remaining EXCEPT for "Cede & Co. Depository Trust", which holds around 10%. As far as I can tell, "Cede & Co. Depository Trust" simply represents shares held in street name. My question then is how to track down where these shares are held to potentially acquire the shares we need to get over the 90% equity threshold.

Private Equity Associate to Hedge Fund Transition

lurker22's picture
IB
(Monkey, 45
 
Points)
 on 5/5/13 at 9:57pm

Anybody made the transition? How were you able to gain the public markets experience needed for recruiting? And how did you get around the stigma from hopping into PE after banking (instead of HF)?

Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

Private Equity Taking Over the Housing Market

Addinator's picture
ST
 
Points)
 on 5/3/13 at 11:03am
images.jpg

This doesn't seem like it should end well. Large amounts of institutional money coming into the housing market, pushing prices up. Blackstone is apparently getting into it in a big way.

Our bet right now is the scale of the opportunity is very big, and the pricing seems quite compelling," said Jonathan Gray, head of Blackstone's real estate group, at CNBC's Delivering Alpha conference in 2012.

A year later, the scale has become huge. So far Invitation has spent $4.5 billion, snapping up 25,000 distressed single-family homes in regions hardest hit by the financial crisis, and in those slowest to recover, the company said. Most of the homes are refurbished and then rented out by Invitation. The appeal of the rental market comes, in large part, from consumers trying in a variety of ways to avoid taking on new debt, said Invitation spokesman Eric Elder.

Insight on Travel as a PE Analyst

LukeJackson's picture
ER
(Baboon, 119
 
Points)
 on 5/1/13 at 11:33am

Did a search and couldn't find much insight on travel from a PE analyst perspective.

Any knowledge as to % of time spent out of the office and usually what a trip to go meet with a prospective investment/management team entails?

Thanks

How to apply the LBO model?

Jig's picture
(Chimp, 4
 
Points)
 on 4/28/13 at 12:21pm

Dear all,

L.E.K. Consulting to Private Equity

blackjack12's picture
CO
(Chimp, 4
 
Points)
 on 4/25/13 at 5:55am

I will be a first year associate at L.E.K. this Fall and looking to transition to private equity after a couple years. My work will involve mostly strategy engagements and maybe a few due diligence private equity cases. What are my prospects for recruiting at megafunds (in comparison to those with banking or MBB backgrounds)? Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

What is the appeal of mega-funds?

sofa king smooth's picture
 
Points)
 on 4/21/13 at 4:28pm

Just out of curiosity, would love to hear people's views on this:

So many of us finance guys spend all their time worrying about getting into the top group at whatever bank so they can move to mega funds in private equity or big hedge funds, where the lifestyle can be close to if not just as bad as a banker's.

Personally, I always have seen myself ending up at a small fund with a few hundred million bucks under management...3-5 guys in a room, so to speak just slaying it with no bureaucracy. Outside of the 'prestige' and 'status', which no one outside of finance would even understand anyways, what is the appeal for you guys for ending up at a KKR or multi-billion dollar hedge fund in the first place?

First year associate (pre-mba) comp

enableiterations's picture
(Chimp, 11
 
Points)
 on 4/17/13 at 3:36pm

What are places paying/what have you heard?

How much does your decisions from the ages of 12 - 18 determine your future/overall happiness in life?

hopingtobreakin's picture
HF
(Baboon, 110
 
Points)
 on 4/17/13 at 1:56pm

Gotta make this quick - at work.

After reading the risible, lambaste worthy & somberful post of "biggest life regrets"

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/the-single-b...

It's evident for MOST of the posters on this forum (whom I'm guessing are <25, 21?) loathe their college decisions, root cause being their high school decisions thus by transitive property loathe high school decisions.

Seems like many people would like a do-over in life because their models & bottles dreams never materialized (or never will). Honestly, thought the posts were hysterical. It seems like it’s too bad that many of you weren’t conceived in Amy Chua’s womb.

How much does your decisions from the ages of 12 - 18 determine your future/overall happiness in life?

hopingtobreakin's picture
HF
(Baboon, 110
 
Points)
 on 4/17/13 at 1:35pm

Gotta make this quick - at work.

After reading the risible, lambaste worthy & somberful post of "biggest life regrets"

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/the-single-b...

It's evident for MOST of the posters on this forum (whom I'm guessing are <25, 21?) loathe their college decisions, root cause being their high school decisions thus by transitive property loathe high school decisions.

Seems like many people would like a do-over in life because their models & bottles dreams never materialized (or never will). Honestly, thought the posts were hysterical. It seems like it’s too bad that many of you weren’t conceived in Amy Chua’s womb.

JMI Equity

Lame Duck Analyst's picture
(Monkey, 34
 
Points)
 on 4/17/13 at 10:05am

Was wondering if anyone on this forum had any insight into JMI Equity. It is a $2b growth equity firm with offices in Baltimore and La Jolla. I was curious what a pre-MBA associate's experience there is like, whether it is an entirely sourcing focused role, and how business schools / post-MBA opportunities view the firm. Any insight is much appreciated.

Internship plans dilemma....renege?

investmentpimp's picture
(Monkey, 37
 
Points)
 on 4/10/13 at 3:38pm

Hi,

I am a sophomore at a semi target w/ 3.7+ wanting to do IB and here's the dilemma I'm in. At the start of this semester I had no offers for summer, I had multiple chances during my first semester but I'm a terrible interviewer and got nada. To give you an idea of my interviewing skills well I had a ib interview, 2 PE, an interview with a boutique PWM and 2 with BB PWM and couldn't get any, a joke right?

However, I got my story down and was able to land a NYMEX internship (business dev) and had verbally accepted the offer. The offer is for part time this semester and full time summer. I was still interviewing after I accepted the offer and actually got a PE internship for this semester.

Good, tough technicals to ask?

mrb87's picture
PE
 
Points)
 on 4/11/13 at 6:18am
interview.jpg

I want to up the technical difficulty of my interviews -- what are some tough but fair technical questions to ask people who have 2-5 years of IBD experience? (i.e. beyond the "If depreciation goes up by $10", or "How do you calculate FCF" questions)

Denver Distressed Debt Firm Looking for an Analyst

iwillhire's picture
(Chimp, 2
 
Points)
 on 4/4/13 at 3:32pm

Distressed debt firm looking for an Analyst to join the acquisitions group. Based in Denver. No relocation assistance, but will fly out for final round interviews.

50% time will be spent supporting underwriting, 50% analyzing potential deals. Mostly dealing with non-performing debt/loan portfolios that are composed of nationwide CRE.

Some one-off operating company deals as well; DIP financing, bridge loans, C&I debt, etc.

Just PM your resume and I will get back to you if it could work. I am not a recruiter, just a long-time WSOer looking to expand our candidate pool

Requirements:
3.5 GPA
Degreed; I do not care where you went to school
Interest in RE, bankruptcy, corporate private equity
Expert level in Excel

Warburg Pincus Interview

Advice_Seeker's picture
(Chimp, 10
 
Points)
 on 4/4/13 at 1:22pm

I have an interview coming up with Warburg Pincus in few days. It would be great if you guys can suggest the kind of questions I might face. Few days back I appeared for Bain Capital Interview, and their questions were consulting type case based questions. Should I expect the same for Warburg Pincus or it will be more along the lines of traditional PE questions. Thanks.

Secondary PE Modeling

Banker88's picture
IB
(King Kong, 1,650
 
Points)
 on 4/2/13 at 11:50am

I have a 2nd round interview coming up with a secondary PE fund. They do mostly LP secondaries of funds that are majority invested.

I'm still trying to understand exactly how they value these LP interests. In the round 1 interview, they told me that they do a bottoms up analysis on the underlying portfolio companies, and then assume a rate of return on the unfunded portion, which dilutes the value.

Can someone explain this in some more detail? What exactly goes into the bottoms up analysis? Does this mean modeling each company with an LBO, assuming a target IRR for the entire portfolio, and backing into a purchase price for each company, then summing them up? Do they use only equity for the purchase since the portfolio companies will already have debt?

Why Would Someone Get Two MBAs from Top B-Schools?

John Daggett's picture
 
Points)
 on 3/31/13 at 12:49pm

Why searching LinkedIn I came across this person's profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alexandre-perez-casare...

Why get get an MBA from Stamford and HBS?

Infrastructure Private Equity Fund to Corporate Private Equity

GetReal's picture
(Chimp, 6
 
Points)
 on 3/30/13 at 1:42pm

Hi, I am a PE associate in a decent infrastructure private equity fund (decent brand name) looking at infrastructure equity investments: toll roads, concession assets, power networks, telco towers and more recently at real estate and public private partnerships (PPP).

How easy would it be for me to move to a corporate private equity fund to focus media, technology, consumer, retail, industrial companies?

I am so bored with the boring infrastructure assets, especially those PPP are killing me and everything is regulated and so incredibly boring...! In addition there is no focus on operations whatsoever as one would do in corporate private equity (improve costs, grow revenues etc).

Anybody made the move before?

Infrastructure Private Equity Fund to Corporate Private Equity

GetReal's picture
(Chimp, 6
 
Points)
 on 3/30/13 at 1:41pm

Hi, I am a PE associate in a decent infrastructure private equity fund (decent brand name) looking at infrastructure equity investments: toll roads, concession assets, power networks, telco towers and more recently at real estate and public private partnerships (PPP).

How easy would it be for me to move to a corporate private equity fund to focus media, technology, consumer, retail, industrial companies?

I am so bored with the boring infrastructure assets, especially those PPP are killing me and everything is regulated and so incredibly boring...! In addition there is no focus on operations whatsoever as one would do in corporate private equity (improve costs, grow revenues etc).

Anybody made the move before?

First Round at Growth Equity Shop - First Round Phone Screen

dondestanlaschicas's picture
CO
(Monkey, 34
 
Points)
 on 3/28/13 at 9:39pm

- Decent sized shop that is agnostic/generalist
- Current fund size $500-700MM
- 2-3 Associates/class = 4-6 Associates total

*Currently a second year consultant recruiting for a 2013 Associate position.

What can I expect for this upcoming screen? For following phone interviews? For the super day in the office?

Issues with joining a 5 person PE fund

ninety9prblms's picture
(Chimp, 8
 
Points)
 on 3/28/13 at 3:31pm

In the final interview steps for a small fund.

Where I am at now is a good real estate investment group. It is a family office but has strong access to capital. It has a pretty good industry rep, with exit ops including the likes of Oaktree and Carlyle. However, they have major issues with comp (have not paid bonuses in 7 years). I am in the acquisitions group.

REPE Interview / Modeling

all_in's picture
 
Points)
 on 3/19/13 at 7:07pm

Hey,

I'll be interviewing with a large Real Estate PE firm in a couple of weeks and I'll have to pass an excel modeling test. As of now, I don't have much RE modeling experience. Therefore, I was looking for some tutorials. Has anyone of you tried out the "breaking into wall street tutorials"? Or are there any any other resources that you'd recommend?

http://breakingintowallstreet.com/biws/real-estate...

Cheers!

Difference between public PE Firms (BX, KKR, APO, etc.)

Investopher1's picture
(Chimp, 7
 
Points)
 on 3/19/13 at 6:57pm

Can someone either explain or point me to a resource that can explain the difference between the public company structure of Blackstone, KKR and Apollo?

I'm having a hard time understanding what the shares in these companies corresponds to...management company? GP? Other?

Thanks.

Private Equity vs Hedge Funds: 4 Key Differences

alpha mail's picture
IB
(Baboon, 168
 
Points)
 on 4/10/13 at 4:30pm
PE VS HF.png

Mod note: This comment was originally posted in
HF vs. PE for Pre-MBA Associate and we wanted to share this great post on the differences between the two routes to those who missed it. Click here to see more top rated comments.

Full disclosure, I'm biased to the HF path, but have friends at top PE shops. First things first, PE and HF are two fundamentally different career paths. Yes, they're both buyside gigs and both pay extremely well. However, it's the differences you'll have to pay attention to.

1. I would say HF is less modeling intensive than PE just BC at the top PE funds you're only going to be modeling as a pre-MBA associate, whereas at a top HF (fundamental value / long-short equity) you'll be doing some modeling to support an investment thesis but you'll also be screening for ideas, crafting the thesis, and defending it with valuation models, et al. Obviously this a blanket statement and realistically the real answer is that it depends on the shop.

At the top non-sourcing PE shops, dealflow is going to be driven primarily by bankers and the rolodex of your operating advisors and senior professionals. This means that as an associate you're going to primarily do LBO modeling with little work on the sourcing side and little work on the post-acquisition operations side. This is great because it'll make you extremely comfortable with modeling down to a very granular level and it'll help you understand swappable cap structures and HY debt. As mentioned in some other threads, megafund PE is very much banking 2.0.

Bain Capital Interview

Advice_Seeker's picture
(Chimp, 10
 
Points)
 on 3/13/13 at 5:58am

I have an interview coming up with Bain Capital in few days. Can you guys suggest me that what kind of questions I might face. I am given this information:

"Each interview will last approximately 45 minutes and will be primarily case-based in format although there are typically a few resume-based questions as well. Interviewers will try to get a sense for analytics, business judgment, strategic thinking, etc. in an effort to understand how you would look at a particular deal/investment."

Background check for MM PE firms

ihabp1987's picture
(Chimp, 13
 
Points)
 on 3/12/13 at 1:13am

Hi guys -- what kind of background checks do mm pe firms perform on associate hires (pre-mba)? Is it very similar to what BB firms do for their full time analyst hires?

Do they ask for criminal, employment, transcripts, education, credit, and drug?

Milestone Partners

Lame Duck Analyst's picture
(Monkey, 34
 
Points)
 on 3/9/13 at 3:29pm

Has anyone heard of Milestone Partners in Philadelphia, PA? If anyone has any experience interviewing with them, what was the experience like? Any insight on the firms reputation, culture, pay, hours, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.