Hi guys, currently an Associate at a PC (direct lending / mezz) megafund. One of your Ares / GSO / HPS. I've always thought of getting some public experience and have been considering moving to a public credit HF. Just wanted to ask you guys how common this is / are skillsets transferable, and whether a move is possible at my current level (or even after 2-3 more years in my current seat). I know there have been other posts here about moving from PC to a credit hedge fund, but these seem to be largely focused at the junior level. With 5-6 years of experience, how feasible is such a move?
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It is possible, moreso if you have prior public investing experience or are at a shop that dabbles in the space every now and then. I have worked with some folks who have made the switch before and while the basics of credit analysis are the same the biggest roadblock has been learning how to come to a conclusion / recommendation with an imperfect amount of data. In privates you get access to the VDR, 3rd party diligence streams, etc., which isn't available in public so you need to learn how to figure out what the main 2 to 3 drivers of any situation are going to be and whether that is discernable. A good way to practice would be to think about your old transactions and try identifying the most critical drivers.
The best way to get yourself traction coming from your seat would be to prepare some write ups on public credit opportunities you think are interesting with a quick ~1 page write up that you can discuss in interviews.
What about technicals in credit HF vs direct lending (besides drivers)? Like understanding where a piece of debt trades in the public market, etc. Seems like a lot of that stuff is different from privates
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