mmib123

It's possible, just look for the PE funds in your area that are aware of your bank and may have done deals with them. It'll help greatly if you're still in a major metro area where there will be more than a couple of PE shops even if it's not thought to be a huge finance city (obviously Boston or Chicago have a decent amount of PE, but a city like Philly is going to have a lot more opportunity than Kansas City). Be aware though that, personally coming from the lower MM-MM world, generally the space doesn't recruit in anywhere near as a formal or structured way as larger shops. For example, it's not as if every spring/fall (whatever) we bring on X associates from the IB analyst ranks because we've kicked out X associates to bschool so it's best to network with all of the firms in your geographic area and in other cities that do the types of deals you've worked on and just stay in front of them.

It stinks that you won't be able to use the senior guys at your bank as referrals to PE funds because that's a very good way to get into these size of funds but with some work you should be able to overcome it. And the funds should be discreet that you're talking to them.

Good luck.