Breaking into IB from PE

Hi all, everything is in the title. To give you a bit of color, I joined a Real Estate Private Equity MF post-graduation and switched into another MF between my senior analyst/associate year. Now I am almost a senior associate at my firm. However, I don't really enjoy anymore the job and get tired of some tasks (despite being in acquisitions, my team is from time to time doing reporting/fund management stuff, some investment monitoring, etc.).

I also regret not having started in Real Estate IB. I love doing deals and I like the commercial side of IB. I am also not afraid of hours as most MF are quite similar to IB in that sense.

Point is, have you ever seen such a move at your bank? I was thinking about doing an MBA to switch into IB, but I recently got a newborn, and the financial burden of such a move would be difficult to accept for my wife and me.

Thank you for your feedback.

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

This should be very easy if you want to stay in RE IB. Most of the flow is IB -> PE, but PE is equivalent skills and even moreso having been at 2 MFs.

I'd apply for any and all Aso / Sr Aso / VP jobs you see, maybe network a bit if you go a few months with no traction. Definitely do not need an MBA especially at your tenure - you would be starting over at associate 0.

You should also try to think of a better answer for why IB, because IB will have equal or more stupid admin tasks. Something along the lines of you'd prefer to do deals but don't necessarily want to be tied to a single investment for 5 years is a better direction to think of.

 

Many thanks for this encouraging message. I will try to network beforehand to ensure that I can get the job. I believe challenges will be i) to compete with MBA associates at that level, and ii) as I am mostly working on direct investment in properties, I do not have much of corporate deal expertise (despite having set-up or bought some platforms/portfolios, etc.).   

 

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