What is Private Capital / Private Market Advisory?
I see that (mostly MM & boutique) firms like Evercore, Raymond James, Lazard, etc. have a Private Capital or Private Markets Advisory division.
What is this? Tried doing some digging but came up with nothing so if anyone has links/answers other than the vague "they provide secondary market liquidity and advice" that'd be super helpful. I've been researching Evercore deals in particular but haven't found any good public info so if you know of any deals out of that group that'd be great.
Secondary Advisory ("SA") is an extremely technical and complex area that is far more intellectually challenging than traditional M&A, so it's a role suited to those that enjoy the more technical and challenging side of advisory. I have a friend who was in M&A at a bulge bracket but quit because he was super smart and found M&A easy and boring, he then joined a SA team and finds it super complex which he loves as he enjoys the challenge.
In terms of what SA does, from my understanding there's basically two core areas:
1) they advise private equity funds ("GP") on structuring their funds to meet the specific requirements, e.g. a GP may have a certain problem and then the SA team will have to find a solution to the problem which could be suggesting the GP does a continuation fund, liquidity tender, partial realisation etc. They then manage the process and execute the transaction / restructuring for the GP.
2) the limited partner ("LP") side, which they would basically advise and execute liquidity solutions for existing LPs, e.g. a very simplified example would if a pension fund wanted to sell their stake in a GP, then the SA team would manage the process and execute it for them which for this example would be advising the pension fund, managing the process of the sell and finding a new buyer to replace their stake.
At the top firms (I think Evercore and Campbell Lutyens are the top two leaders and then after them Lazard / PJT / Jefferies are also very good) the hours are brutal.
I hope this helps.
This is super helpful! Agree that secondary advisory is incredibly exciting with the rise of GP-led transactions. Pay is roughly on par with traditional M&A (at least the base), with arguably better hours per week.
In terms of top firms, what do you think about Greenhill? I know they are definitely not as strong as before but any updated thoughts about them? Their PCA team previously dominated the LP-led space but then lost almost the entire ex-Cogent team in the US to Jefferies.
Overall pay and hours will differ by firm but at the top places like Evercore and Campbell Lutyens etc the hours will definitely be brutal and equal to M&A.
Yeah Greenhill is also good, I know they've been building out their European team as well.
Very very helpful thank you. Was interested in looking into this as a lateral but your reply was candid enough to kill that idea on sight. So thank you for that.
Really depends on the firm wrt hours and experience. It's still IB advisory work so it's not a 9-5 but I've seen the hours be weekday focused with relatively fewer weekend fire drills.
The hours are definitely not longer than M&A.
Can you speak on the hours? I'm headed to Evercore/PJT/Lazard PCA next year for SA. The friends I have at MF secondaries funds (Alpinvest (Carlyle), Apollo, Ares, Blackstone Strategic Partners) all told me that the hours would be very rough. Coming from megafund people I'm a bit worried as to what this means (since MF hours (especially at Apollo) are often longer than traditional IB.
Regardless though, I am so excited to work in this space. Evercore (according to Morgan Stanley's equity research) PCA has grown 45% CAGR over the past 3 years. By far the most exciting part of IB for me, and very glad to take PCA over BB IB and EB IB offers.
Sorry for any grammar errors - on my phone.
How were the hours and the overall experience?
If you're at a decent group, would you still have to pitch a lot? Or is it mainly execution?
I think it's a bit more nuanced and likely differs by bank. PCA at Lazard is essentially the old Lazard Middle Market that has been rebranded. It's still focused primarily on sell side M&A, though does a little buy side and capital raising as well.
PCA at Lazard is not the old Lazard Middle Market. PMA or Private Market Advisory is the old Lazard MM. Extremely confusing rebranding. PCA or Private Capital Advisory is the buy-side capital raising and secondary advisory arm.
These rebrands of MM strategy bolt-ons are extremely confusing. Guggenheim did the same thing with “Private Equity Advisory” (renamed MM) which is apparently different from Private Capital Advisory and Private Capital Markets? No idea what the difference between last two is, and I’m an actual banker… can’t imagine being on campus and figuring this out lol
Check out Secondaries Investor for information on deals. Because they're all inherently private there isn't a ton of info. Most banks put out year-in-review pieces too so I'd look at those as well.
Just got approached as well for PCA at Evercore and i don't know what to make of it.
Main concerns are exit options and longevity. Sure the market for PCA is great given the recession that everyone seems to be predicting and it's difficult to get liquidity for some long term investments, but when it comes out of the recession?
Quite a bit of push because getting a bit burned out from M&A too so idk.
I personally think it works in all markets.
The whole industry basically started out of the GFC when LPs needed to sell stakes and GPs couldn't sell final assets in a fund. Then it really became popular in recent years (GP-led specifically) when sponsors saw a runway for their star assets and wanted to hold on to them longer. So in a downturn there should be continuation funds because sponsors can't sell assets and in good times there should be continuation funds because sponsors want to continue with a strong performing asset rather than selling to their rivals who extract that value.
LP stakes are more countercyclical but there's always a market given their changes in strategy over time and also because a new CIO means they will want to clean up the predecessor's portfolio.
One note on Evercore specifically. If you're looking for better WLB, I'd diligence the role pretty heavily. They're known for being a sweatshop within PCA. Haven't worked there so cannot opine but that is their rep on the street.
Thanks for sharing. Definitely don't know much about the PCA
Definitely, even their Advisory business is known as a sweatshop where i am (have friends who worked there and left without a job).
Currently not very keen as not very sure about exit options and pigeonholing myself in such a position.
Any one have any insight on Truist’s Private Institutional Capital group? I’m guessing it’s mostly LP focused
Seems to be nearly all LP work and does not seem to be going at the same pace of other firms (wish I could articulate it better). I would highly recommend another firm if given the choice
Any idea on how HL's PFA team is? Is it based on group (primaries secondaries gp-led)
HL has a PFG - Private Fund Group. They are not massive in the secondary space (I think they only did 4 deals [all LP] in 2020), but they are growing like all other firms in the space. I believe that HL's PFG also does fund raising which is difference from some other firms. For example, Evercore has a separate group for secondaries (PCA) and another one for fund raising (PFG). The head of the group is ex-CS PFG which is a very solid and very run player in the space.
HL's PFG is part of their CF group which means base for analyst 1 is currently 105k.
is bonus gonna be lower than typical CF though?
BBs like GS and MS also getting into the space
More like everyone these days are getting into the space
Any links or more info on this? I know they are already in the investing into secondaries space, but I am unaware of advisory services they offer.
Can't provide colour in MS, but GS's secondary advisory business is part of its new Cross Markets Group
Lol had both an PJT and Evercore first rounds for both and shit the bed because I had no idea about any of the details beyond the more general aspects
Are you looking to lateral or is this for FT?
Should prep more
Any updates on Campbell Lutyens London WLB / Hours? This is for the secondaries M&A business stream
Recently interview there 6M ago. Hours aren’t very different from usual M&A work. Maybe marginally better.
Anyone got any advice for 2nd round case study - ie what to prep for? (Lazard / Evercore / Campbell)
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