Reneging on Top IB Analyst Offer for low-mm PE?

I accepted a return offer after my summer at the top ib in my country for a niche sector coverage group that used to be best on the street however the group is still recovering in the most recent year after the top MD retired and we couldn't retain some of his connections.

I am confident that the group will have the dealflow next year as they are working on some ground-breaking mandates at this point and have the largest balance sheet to deploy. The group also runs very lean so I am confident that I will have sufficient deal experience in my time there.

However I'm talking to a mm pe firm in this niche sector for a role in their satellite office in my country. The fund has about $3-4bn AUM (almost fully deployed) and is raising another $2-3bn this year from past investors with a significant portion dedicated to my region so I don't think dealflow will be much of an issue. The team doesn't have any juniors atm so I will have exposure to all the seniors as well as handling all the valuation/modeling work for the entire region.

Long term I would like to make the transition to PE but I am not sure if giving up that pedigree on my resume is worth it and I don't think its right to burn bridges this early in my career. Let me know your thoughts, I know ultimately this decision will be up to me but am always looking for more experienced advice.

3 Comments
 

This is the right way to think about this in my opinion -- do you think you could exit to a comparable shop from this group in question? Given your description, I assume you could, in which case all you are doing is destroying option value with limited upside.

 
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