Top EU Secondary PE Advisory vs no name MM M&A
Hello everyone !
Long time member, first time posting: I'm currently facing a bit of a dilemma here and was looking out for some advice.
TL;DR: Top EU Secondary PE Advisory vs TMT Upper MM High deal flow no name boutique ?
I currently work at a top European PE Secondary advisory team (Think Evercore/Lazard/Greenhill/PJT/Campbell/Jefferies/UBS) as a first year analyst. Dealflow is very strong, but there is virtually no exposure to asset-level modelling. I don't want to give out too much details that could identify the firm. I would have no problem continuing in this area, but I am afraid I might get pigeonholed very quickly in secondaries, and would never be able to move to direct buyside (PE/PD) in a couple of years. Are the contacts built through secondary advisory sufficient to eventually make a move to direct PE ?
The thing is, I was recently offered an analyst position by a firm I had interviewed with a couple of months ago.
Now this one is a TMT mid/upper MM boutique (£100-400M deal size) created by two MDs from EBs banks. Their deal flow is very high for a small firm, with c.10 closed European deals and c.5 closed US deals this year. On top of that, they have a subsidiary doing late-stage VC investments, so exposure to buyside is unique. Downside is, the firm has virtually no brand name (they are not on any league tables as they do all of their origination in-house and don't pitch (!!!!), and only do two or three press releases a year), so one year down the line, unless the firm has decided to become a bit more visible it might be impossible to pass CV screenings despite the fact that deals are of a size comparable to some EBs'. High exposure to modelling is guaranteed. I got in touch with one of their ex-employees who said he found it impossible to get 1st round interviews at EBs as the firm has way too little visibility.
I have a couple of options here I think, but I would very much appreciate some enlightenment from someone with more perspectives. Ideally I would like to move to the buy side at some stage (as you can imagine), PE or PD. My question is as follows: in 1.5-2 years time, what would best position me for a role in a PE/PD fund ?
- Staying in the Secondary PE team of a top firm?
- Joining an M&A no-name high deal flow boutique ?
- Attempt an internal move to the M&A side at my current firm, risking to be turned down and having to stay in a team that knows I wants something else ?
Looking forward to hearing the views on this,
Thanks a lot.
No asset level modelling? If you're at EVR/PJT, who are dealing with a lot of single asset deals atm, I find that extremely surprising.
Anyhow
1) If you're at EVR/PJT/LAZ and you like Secondaries, there's basically no reason to switch beyond WLB stuff: Top top pay and great brand and great dealflow in a booming market.
2) If you're working in a Secondaries group at EVR/PJT/LAZ, and you want to make a move to M&A, you should be able to make an internal move into one of their M&A teams quite easily (seen it happen a few times) and that will definitely set you up better long-term than a no-name MM boutique.
3) If you want to exit to direct PE, I'd try lateralling internally --> then exit
4) If you work at UBS/Campbell/others, I'd try to either lateral to one of the top Secondaries guys (if you want to stick to this industry) or take the MM offer, but that's just a personal preference
That is not to say that PCA guys can't get direct PE gigs, they absolutely can, but you might have to settle for MM funds.
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