M&A Analyst - PE "specialization"

Hi all !

I am currently working as a 2nd year M&A analyst in a generalist team (meaning no industry focus). As I am thinking about specializing in a specific sector (I do have my own ideas and preferences), I did also think of "specializing" in PE-related deals: i.e. M&A deals involving PE sponsors and thus developing an expertise on PE-related thinking and way of doing things instead of classical sectorization (consumer, TMT, ...) Thing is I feel the need to have my own field of expertise rather than scratching the surface of every subject possible ...

What do you think about this idea ? Dumbest think you ever heard or could make sense according to you ?

Eager to hear your arguments (especially from the most senior of you guys)

Cheers !

9 Comments
 

Going to be working in an M&A team as well so curious to hear what people say

I would say wouldn’t focusing on PE related deals be too risky? I feel like PE is very cyclical and you could be out of demand in a down cycle.

I’m curious, based on your experience how unique is PE M&A vs the other types of deals you do in the team? What are the differences?

“If you ain’t first, you’re last!” - GOAT
 
"Number Crunching Warrior" I would say wouldn’t focusing on PE related deals be too risky? I feel like PE is very cyclical and you could be out of demand in a down cycle.

v. interesting, I'll be looking into that ! Well I'm not an expert what difference is in the way you think about the deal and BP: means to create value, different requirement from PE vs industrial, capex, ...

 

No such team at my bank. I was thinking more of staying at my generalist team, but with a focus on deals with sponsors (ideally combining the FS expertise I hope to get with sector expertise relevant to the particular deal)

 

Sounds pretty dumb to me. How many sale processes have you worked on with only sponsors in the buyer universe? Maybe if you want to just do buy-sides. Regardless you’re a second year analyst so good luck getting a unique specialization carved out for yourself

 

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