Apollo Hybrid Value vs. Bain Capital Credit
Hi! I’m in a fortunate position to have offers from Apollo Hybrid Value and Bain Capital Credit as a 1st year associate. I’m coming from an RX EB (ignore my title). I’m really at a bit of a loss because I see significant pros and cons to each group. I didn’t love the hours (and culture) I’ve worked the past two years, so for that reason I’m leaning towards going up to Boston, but I also don’t really know many people who pass on Apollo. Does anyone have any insights or were in the same situation?
What’s the group at Bain Capital Credit? Apollo HVF is Apollo Lite so don’t obsess on just the brand name.
Apollo HVF is a good team - guys have a really flexible mandate and tbh that sort of mandate is the really the model of the new next generation, version 2.0 of special sits investing. HVF is also one of the more successful pioneers in this space so imo a good place to be
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I have seen Hybrid Value do cool things, but obviously that does not consider culture/life style which is equally important. I think you’ll get paid very well at Apollo but will grind on interesting stuff.
Hope you enjoyed your time at Evercore!
Dang well you sniped that one hahah
It was somewhat obvious considering PJT RSSG/HL RX folks have great culture and groups outside of PJT/HL/EVR don't place that well
Have some experience with Bain Credit - work differs between Liquid vs Illiquid, but people are very kind and culture is strong.
What are your long terms goals? I think a good heuristic to consider in this situation is that it's easier to move up the capital stack than down the capital stack. That said, I'm not familiar with the Apollo HVF, so may be a push if that segment of Apollo is largely focused on credit
It really depends on what you want, like you said.
You will likely get a better experience as an "investor" at Apollo Hybrid Value. Bain Capital Credit only really has one group that is really "interesting" and that is their distressed group. The experience in the industry groups (which is most likely what you have an offer for) is still comprehensive and can include interesting distressed/PE work, however it just is not the major portion of the job, which is liquid credit. On the other hand, Apollo Hybrid Value truly invests across the cap structure and has a reputation for getting involved in technical/hairy situations. There is a much bigger focus on distressed and special sits at Apollo.
In terms of culture, I am sure you realized this during your interviews, but Bain Capital Credit gives off heavy consultant vibes. Everyone always seems cheery/polished and generally happy. The culture goes along with that and honestly it seems like a great place to go on that front. Obviously a win for Bain here over Apollo. They still work hard though during deal sprints.
In terms of exits, Bain Capital Credit wins out in terms of MBA placement. That legacy Bain name is extremely strong and I have never seen anyone not go to HBS/GSB after an associate stint there. On the other hand, industry exits, while strong, are not as strong as you would expect megafund credit/special-sits to be. Apollo Hybrid Value handily wins out on that front.
Hope this helps.
Bain Capital MBA placement has taken a hit, plenty going to Wharton now. Natural consequence of how large their Associate class sizes have become.
I don’t think Apollo tends to send many to business school generally, but placement for those who apply is probably great.
The consultant here is completely wrong — please take a search through LinkedIn
is liquid or illiquid credit generally considered better?
What are typical “exits” of people in HVF considering they are the exit? I’m also curious which are the best gigs at Apollo apart from PE and HVF.
I've interviewed a few HVF associates looking to move, generally they are looking for something a bit more nimble with a bit wider investment mandate. I wouldn't say for the average person who goes to HVF that they view it as their last stop based on people who I know who have gone there.
As others have asked, what team in Bain is it? If it's DSS, take it and don't debate it further IMO. Great culture, great mandate, and good fundraising in terms of increasing fund size. Those guys can do just about whatever they want once it hits the return threshold which means they can continually pivot to new investment themes based on where they see good returns. If it's industry, I'd check how much of their deals are liquid vs. illiquid / DSS type opportunities for the vertical you'll end up in. If it's a good exposure to DSS, I'd take it as you're seeing across the credit spectrum and can decide where you want to go from there. If it's mostly liquid, would go with Apollo.
nice very helpful!
What are Apollo’s main PE groups called? I feel like so many teams makes it confused who actually does normal buyout PE
Apollo actually keeps it pretty simple.
PE = vanilla corporate PE
HVF = hybrid value fund = minority equity, pref, other structured investments
AIOF = infrastructure opportunities fund = middle market infra
ANRP = natural resource partners = energy + energy transition
Athene = insurance money, mostly structured credit investments
and they have a bunch of credit and real estate funds as well but those are either self-explanatory or increasingly esoteric so not too relevant for your question
Add Apollo Impact to the list.
Perfect, thanks!
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