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It's PCA, so GP and LP led secondaries and fund structuring. Won't be good for direct primary PE exits, but EVR PCA is the best on the street and the bonuses there tend to be higher than average than m&a teams.

 
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Unlike the asshat above I’ll give you an actual productive response. Evercore PCA is top of the street when it comes to secondaries advisory. The team is split by LP-leds and GP-leds and I would definitely recommend trying to be on the GP-led side as you’ll build more broader applicable skills.

If you start in PCA the most likely exits would be secondaries buyside, allocator roles / FoFs, co-investments, lateral to M&A and have even seen private credit. Direct buyout will be an uphill battle given it’s a different skill set.

Yes, he’s right starting in M&A will give you more options (including secondaries) but starting in PCA (especially at EVR) will by no means “ruin” your career. It’s the fastest growing space within private markets and will likely continue to be (look at fundraising in the last year compared broader PE).

 

Why would you ruin ur career so early?

I didn't even start in IB or any type of financial advisory. 

PCA is a good start but as others have stated - if your intention is to be an M&A guy or a Buyout PE person then I would move before you get senior analyst.

Sponsors M&A (London)
 

Started my career at EVR PCA, then had a great buyside exit to a firm with a $10+ billion fund (intentionally vague about this). I loved secondaries and thought the team was great. Very strong brand and alumni base (I was in NY though, can't comment on LON). Friend that is now a director at a well-known MF in the secondaries space told me while I was at EVR PCA that they would rather hire an EVR PCA analyst over a GS TMT analyst. If you want to do buyside secondaries, you cannot start your career in a better place (other than directly at the MF secondary firms). 

 

As a college sophomore, how do I know that my passion/goal is buyside secondaries? It seems like going from EVR PCA to any other field other than buyside secondaries is going to be an uphill battle? 

 

You honestly don’t. I stumbled into the space through an internship but went on to experience other areas of finance before fully committing to secondaries.

To lend credence to the direct hardos chirping in this thread, starting in M&A gives you the most “options” and it’s where I’d recommend anyone coming out of school aim for. But if you end up in secondaries, odds are you’ll like it and will want to build a career in it. Take a look through any of these threads… you don’t see people complaining about their jobs in secondaries like people in directs… and no it’s not just cuz it’s “new” the space has been around for 20+ years at this point. But hey, we wouldn’t have our jobs in secondaries if it weren’t for the hardos grinding away

 

curious if your exit was to their secondaries fund or anything else? can pm if you're not comfortable sharing! just a prospective intern

 

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