How would you rate GS Merchant Banking Team?

On their website they talk about being among the top 3-5 players in PE. Is that really true?

Have interview with them and with H&F and also an offer from Permira (all for an internship). Honestly I think H&F followed by Permira is the way to go. What are your thoughts?

Location: Europe

16 Comments
 

Out of uni good name, haven't been very impressed by the people I met there though compared to traditional MF/UMM PE.

 

you already reached the right conclusion. I have also heard that GS PE is not that good. Now consider the actual investment style and whether you'd enjoy the target sectors. Permira is heavy on consumer afaik - it's definitely not for everyone. If possible, grab a coffee or a beer with the Associate in the team and just see whether you really get along. Ask questions about current deal flow - if you get to work on a live deal during the internship that's great. You don't want to end up doing a bunch of random desktop research that no one will use. I don't know much about H&F but I'd a lot more interested in them than the other two.

 

How do you have an internship offer from H&F??

A quick linkedin search shows that there's 0 analysts and 0 investment interns

 
Most Helpful

Goldman Sache PE is neither top-notch nor bad. It is a very decent place with a solid dealflow, even though I agree with the others that many are minorities and work is more interesting/complex at a traditional control buyout fund.

However, you need to take into consideration your situation. Permira and H&F do not convert interns (at least they haven't in the past and to me it is even new that they hire interns) in Europe while GS has a structured analyst program. People at GS PE have great exits and the name carries a lot. So it ultimately depends on your future plans.

Learning curve as an intern might be comparable (probably even better at GS as people are more familiar working with interns) and for future positions all three positions will be regarded positively to (almost) the same extent.

 

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