Prepping for off-cycle– I feel like I missed the boat on alot of MF seats, especially on the east coast. Any thoughts on what UMM names you have heard good things about? Or even better, any names to avoid?
I know UMM can be a nebulous space, but I always thought of it as established, name-brand funds in the $5-10+ bn space. Please feel free to fill in any gaps, but would love to hear about: Veritas, NMC, Berkshire, WCAS, Lindsay Goldberg, Harvest, etc.
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Only going to speak on the funds I have a lot of insight on, will let others opine on the rest from your list:
Vertias: Phenomenal returns, horrible culture that will change your life for the worse. I would still take an associate spot here if nothing else just due to the learning experience, but not sure how sustainable it is to stay working for one of the most toxic people in all of PE. The head of the fund is a nutjob who micromanages everyone, and the whole fund revolves around him for every single decision. Life does not get better for anyone at Veritas just due to how bad the guy up top is to work for. Not going to get too detailed here, but it's APO levels bad culture-wise and white house levels political. Also will note that the mid-levels are extremely crowded and no visibility to partner for anyone, getting promoted also is just a game of politics not merit.
Berkshire: Great people, have heard they help a lot with MBA recruiting, and they have really strong camradarie at all levels starting from up top. They had a great win with SRS two years ago and raised a larger than previous 7.8bn fund in late 2024. The only real downside I can think of is that they have historically required an MBA for promote, but have heard that's no longer a requirement if you are an elite associate.
NMC: Have heard a lot of positive things about this place from people there, but am not sure how true it is today given all the recent spin-outs. They are big on buy-and-bulid, which they do very succesfully. It's sweaty, but more on the par for course for fund size than abnormally sweaty like Veritas. They are pretty good at looking to retain talent and haven't heard any real horror stories about culture outside the hours. Think if I were to re-do recruiting, this would be one of if not top of my list of firms to target for longer than 2 years in PE.
Least disillusoned Veritas associate.
NMC is a grindshop (so is any other UMM fund tbh). Friend disliked their associate experience thre and when I was interviewing for VP position the SVP/director folks looked tired and drained af
any idea if the WLB / culture in credit is similar?
Agree it's sweaty, my point as outlined in my comment is that it's not abnormally sweaty like a Veritas or Apollo. Any fund of 5bn+ is sweaty, the question really is severity and if the people are also aholes. I think NMC comparatively to some others like Veritas has much nicer people and less sweaty.
anything on Nordic, WCAS, GTCR?
The best fund is whatever fund gives you an offer.
All the firms you listed are solid UMM firms that are going to be great associate experiences, can't comment much more as not super familar with them outside of tangential experiences. Would really think about what type of investing interests you, what sectors interest you, what location do you want to be in, and if you want to stay longer than 2 years or not. Once you evaluate all those, you can get yourself down to a fairly short list. Ideal would also be a rapidly scaling fund, but there's probably less than 10-15 of those at few billion+ in fund size.
any more color? more so curious on culture, comp, etc
any insight on lgp, fp, gtcr, bdt, platinum?
The only times I have read about Platinum are in restructuring newsletters
Platinum keeps being in the news for portcos going into restructuring, so doubt they are doing well. FP brags about not having a lot of losses in recruiting events, will be interesting to see if they can continue to avoid losses in the software downturn. It's still one of the top software-only funds if that's your interest. BDT is a merchant bank as well as a PE fund, so a bit different to the traditional PE model. From friends at GTCR, have heard culture is extremely old-school and not great, though doesn't seem as bad as the culture the associate above described for Veritas. Great b-school placements, but you do need to get a MBA to get the VP promote from what I have heard.
Any insight on Genstar, TA
Genstar sounds like a great associate seat from friends who went through their process. MM platform with a skew towards software (although mandate is generalist). Very lean team, high AUM / IP. Recent fund reached hard cap of $12.6B back in 2023 which is impressive given the fundraising environment back then. Only risk here is their software concentration, but who isn’t these days.
There's probably a high correlation between being a fund that has scaled rapidly over the past 5-6 years and having high software exposure. The only real exceptions I can think of is Arcline, but think they are having their own non-software related issues. 26North (raised 4.3bn for first fund, albiet has been fundraising for a long time) is another exception, but working there will require you to work with Josh Harris who has quite the reputation. Most of the recent rapidly scaling or upcoming MM/UMM funds that constantly get highlighted on WSO have over a third of their fund in software.
Anything on WCAS or Nordic?
Any insight on Audax / boston based UMM
Would not work at either Audax or THL tbh. Berkshire is excellent. Summit / TA both great if u like growth
How would you compare those opportunities to Advent, Bain and Charlesbank?
What is market comp for Boston?
Berkshire is excellent indeed, has quite the prestige halo. Culture is great from a friend that works there; frequent outings, respect from seniors, etc. Strong pipeline to HBS, but have been forgoing the MBA requirement as of late (1 associate per class is promoted to Sr Asso). Also, Stockbridge is a super strong LO fund with some really cracked folks. Only downside (for me) is it’s in Boston.
Cannot say the same about Audax. Have two friends that completely crashed out after associate stint. Toxic culture, 100 hour weeks, the works. The strategy demands the work - they buy a platform and bolt on as many companies as their poor associates can crank out.
Here's my opinion. I work at an endowment/foundation, so my perspective will vary from an investment professional.
With the state of credit, is it worth joining the credit or structured equity fund of those platforms?
GTCR capital solutions, Warburg capital solutions, Harvest Credit, Linden structured equity/credit etc.
Or even Clearlake that has flexible capital
I don't cover credit, so this is not an informed view. I think it's worth joining as there will always be a place for junior capital, irrespective of whatever's going on in software. But I would make sure the credit platform you're joining is actually differentiated. Not vanilla DL type stuff
I would not wish Veritas on my worst enemies. Most PE funds above a few billion in fund size are going to be sweaty, but there's a huge difference between sweaty and extra sweaty as well as working with great, okay, and terrible people. Veritas is somehow the worst of hours, people, and culture. The growth phase of Veritas has already happened in the sense there's no partner spots, simply one of the most crowded firms at the mid-levels. Most of these >10bn+ fund firms have only so much to scale; the best firms to be at are firms that nobody on WSO is aware of because it's too small.
The people recruting now will be Senior Associates in 2029 meaning another 1-2 fund raises, the current growing ~5bn fund is either going to be stuck there or be a ~10bn fund by that time. There's so many sub 2bn fund size firms that will never get brought up on WSO, but are doing great and growing well.
Suit and tie 5 days a week baby
anything on WCAS Nordic GTCR? Interested in HC
If you are dead serious on HCIT, Nordic is the top of the top, but based on meeting w ppl there during interview process, culture is def below average, and not nice ppl in general
Veritas is huge in tech/software investments that sell into heavily regulated markets including but not limited to HCIT. Most of Veritas's healthcare investments are HCIT or have a heavy tech tint. If interested in HCIT, it's probably the best or among the best firms. Returns speak for itself. With that being said, would direct you to other threads and the comment above as to what the culture is like.
How do other UMM pure play software players like Hg compare to FP?
That's not a good comparison, Hg is European while FP focuses on US. Hg is probably doing better than FP, I'd say Hg is doing good while FP is going good relative to Thoma and Vista
What about ~$5bn funds like Arlington, TJC, Patient Square, Greenbriar and Arsenal?
Arlington is awesome, but you really have to commit to DC long-term. They're trying to hire partners-to-be tbh.
TJC has a great culture but their acceleration is pretty recent compared to their long history. Were considered a JAMMBO a decade ago and are now hot. Don't take midlevels.
PS there's another recent thread about but yeah, very hardcore about all things HC, especially all things pharma. Scuttlebutt is that the strategy works, but idk personally.
Greenbriar guys are sharp but imo kinda suck. Not even in a toxic way, just a bit buttoned up from the collar to the dick.
Arsenal I think is a bit fluky tbh.
Would you take any of the WSO commonly described growing smaller UMM funds like Arlington, Patient Square, TJC, Arcline, Haveli, Linden, 26North, etc. over any of the larger funds? If so to what extent? By larger fund, I mean funds that larger than ~6bn, as all these funds are in that 4-6bn fund range.
What are the best UMM names in healthcare?
GTCR, Veritas, NMC, WCAS, Nordic, Linden come to mind for UMM buyout. TA, GA, Summit for growth.
Thoughts on Arcline?
Roark?
Best there is in restaurant PE.
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