Boutique Asset Management Firms
I am starting to look more and more into a career in Asset Management. I was wondering if people knew anything about these three firms: The Royce Funds, Harris Associates, and Dodge & Cox. I can tell what their strategy is from their websites, but does anyone have insight into their culture? Do they hire from undergrad? What would be a starting salary at one of these firms? Would the more traditional path be to start at a Fidelity/PIMCO and then move to one of these smaller firms?
Also, if anyone has any insight into similar type firms, I would love to hear that as well. Thanks.
Royce, Harris, Dodge & Cox are all top value investing shops. I have a friend who works at Harris, I don't know about Royce but the other two both have analyst training programs. These are pretty small and hard to get into.
If you actually want to do value-investing for the rest of your career or a good portion of it, a pedigree from one of these places is great. Fidelity's training program for new hires is also very good and you'll have exposure to non-value strategies, as well as a more global investment program.
PIMCO is the only place I haven't heard great things about (poor culture), but honestly, landing a job at any of these firms will set you up for a great career in investment management if you're cut out for it.
Royce: primarily a small cap U.S. value shop. They use a deep value strategy. They had an awesome record in the 90s through mid 2000s. Their performance since then has been terrible. I don't know what their AuM is these days but they have to be hurting. There has also been some turnover at the top. They used to have 1-2 Research Associates but I don't think they have a formal undergrad hiring program.
Harris Associates / Oakmark: one of the best value investing firms out there, especially on the international side. From what I can tell, the U.S. and international teams are almost entirely separate. The international team runs incredibly lean, like 6-7 guys running over $30 billion. I've heard compensation is incredible, no surprise given how lean they run. I've also heard that it's a tough culture. I've been very impressed by the people I've met from Harris from top to bottom. David Herro has a "coaching tree" of people that he trained who have since left to become incredibly successful portfolio managers elsewhere, i.e. Artisan, FPA. I don't think they hire undergrads at least on the international side.
Dodge & Cox: also a well respected value firm, though I have some doubts about them. They're very similar to Brandes and Hotchkis Wiley. Culture is supposed to be great. They do hire undergrads although it's quite competitive. I've been impressed by the people I met from there. Their performance has been index-like for many years though, so I'm wondering how sustainable their business is.
Asset Management Divisions of Boutique IBs (Originally Posted: 10/28/2010)
I have noticed that boutique IBs like Lazard, Perella Weinberg, and Rothschild all have Asset Management divisions, with some having lots of AUM while others do not. Is anyone familiar with what working at one of these AM divisions is like? Are the hours as brutal as IB? Pay? I am not at all interested in working in IB, but I have started to get more interested in asset management and these all look like great places to work (ie the websites were easy to navigate).
In terms of hours, there's no way you would be working IB hours in any asset management division. Earnings season may bump your hours to 60-70+ at tougher shops, but there are no deals in AM and therefore no need to be working 90+ hours. AM is generally a slower career progression than IB although it's less structured as lateraling is very common. PMs can pull down some significant loot though, and in long-only funds, you're only really in trouble if the market is down or if you lag the S&P before expenses.
Your mileage will probably vary between those firms. At some point or other, different boutiques have been at the forefront of the AM field. Rotshchild launched the first FoHF, investing with Soros and Steinhardt from the very get-go, but they're seen as pretty staid now. Lazard's AM division caused a stir when they launched their first mutual fund (since Andre Meyer and Al Hettinger were running it) but it failed miserably, and today's AM division is just run-of-the-mill. PWP was in the news for trying to recruit former Goldman prop traders. They didn't get them, but that can give you an idea of where they're headed.
In sum, I think the culture of the boutique will directly influence how the AM division operates. Younger boutiques like PWP or Moelis are looking to get into more exotic products, while an established Lazard or Rothschild is probably closer to the traditional AM model.
why do you keep typing Rotschild? Its Rothschild btw...
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