Any info on Sixth Street Partners?
Latest posts on here are pre 2022 on cycle and are very high-level. Only other info I can find is from various pension funds' public disclosures.
For context, senior at H/S/W going FT to a top group at GS/MS and interested in recruiting at Sixth Street when the time comes.
Interested in learning:
1) How the firm is structured at the fund-level, and how associates are allocated (i.e. what are the different groups). Not a lot of info out there given they’re privately owned but it looks like they have a few pools of capital and their flagship fund is around $20bn+. Haven’t heard of a special sits fund that big so particularly interested in how they did it / how it’s structured.
- From a Strategic Capital Group job posting it looks like they're divided into industries but the only industry I'm able to find a web page on is Healthcare & Life Sciences It looks like their main focuses have been Healthcare & Life Sciences (ConcertAI, Mammoth, Datavant, Caris) and TMT (Legends and Spurs + Spotify and Airbnb out of Sixth Street Growth). They list out the following as their verticals on the What We Do page: Business Services, Consumer and Internet, Energy, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Real Estate, Renewables, Retail, Software and Technology, Telecom and Media.
- Are associates placed into industry groups? The job posting seems contradictory as it suggests associates work across industries but that the teams are divided by industry.
- What are the top groups within the firm? In terms of culture, pay, prestige, other relevant factors.
2) How has the separation from TPG / legal conflict with Dyal affected the firm? My understanding is not that much given they were independent anyways and the fact that it's been a while since either, but still helpful context to know.
3) Since they're completely independent of TPG now does that mean they can raise buyout funds? They seemed to have built a solid track record in debt and growth equity and are doubling AUM every year. This seems like a logical next step but what’s the word on the street?
4) What types of investments do they typically make? It looks like they’ve been doing a lot of non-control growth stuff recently but I know they also do some control-oriented distressed (bought Neiman Marcus out of bankruptcy). They seem to be “thematic” but I’m not exactly sure what that means.
5) How big is the firm? Given it runs around $60bn AUM now and is about to acquire a big insurance company a la APO / BX / KKR I'm assuming it's a lot more people now but if anyone has a headcount estimate that’d be helpful. Basically trying to figure out how big each group is.
6) Did they recruit during 2022 on-cycle? How many people did they hire in each of the groups? What are the backgrounds of new hires (firm/group and school)?
7) What’s the history of the firm? I know it was founded in 2009 when all the GS SSG partners left but why’d they leave? Was it due to some internal conflict within GS? Did SSG blow up in 2009?
Following
Bump
You need to understand Talcott to understand Sixth Street. This is their Athene / Global Atlantic / F&G play and will determine their success over the next few years.
Lazard RX backgrounds for a few of the associates
One of the top investors in the special situations / opportunistic credit space. They have various funds ranging from direct lending to special situations to growth equity. Although, they hire on a team by team basis so you won’t be getting exposure to all of those mandates. What is unique about them is their TAO fund which helps them pursue adjacent opportunities to their typical fund mandate.
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Following - any info on comp at VP and or principal level?
Curious
One of the best platforms in the credit space. Don't know much about actually working there but I am in this industry and they are extremely well respected.
Have worked directly across from these guys, mostly on placement stuff (e.g. Convertible pref and other financings) but also marketing a couple sellsides, one of which they did a decent amount of diligence into but ultimately dropped out of the process. Hold them in extremely high regard.
The firm is structured through various pools of capital, the largest being their TAO (adjacent opportunities) vehicle that invests across the platform. Other vehicles include Opportunities, which focuses on opportunistic investments and the fundamental strategies team, which I believe focuses more on large cap public investments. I'm not sure how the Growth platform is structured, as the website seems to suggest it's a separate piece.
This sounds about right to me - TMT and healthcare are definitely their big focus areas. The deal with Real Madrid and Legends and brought on Jennifer Doudna as Chief Science Advisor, Nobel laureate who discovered CRISPR. That seems to suggest they're doubling down on biotech and sports, though they do a lot of work across the TMT and healthcare stack.
Not sure about this one but the only industry group I can find people for on LinkedIn is Healthcare & Life Sciences. It seems the rest are grouped into Strategic Capital or Fundamental Strategies.
Doesn't really matter, all the groups are very good and top of what they do. Looking at backgrounds on LinkedIn seems like 90% of the firm is ex-GS, even at the more junior levels (makes sense). I do however see some top Rx groups sprinkled in. Would imagine groups across the firm pay similarly and must be competitive with MF given the quality of candidates.
My understanding is the intention for them was always to go their separate ways, which is why Alan Waxman operated Sixth Street as a separate arm within TPG. Not sure how Dyal legal conflict has affected them but I would imagine not much given they and TPG both own passive stakes.
Very big moves recently from Sixth Street recently and would not be surprised if they're preparing to raise a large buyout fund at this point given their transition agreement with TPG should be expiring soon. Doubt anyone on wso knows...
Literally anything. That's both the advantage and disadvantage of having a flexible capital vehicle. Worth noting that comparable groups at other firms (i.e. Tac Opps at Blackstone and Hybrid Value at Apollo) are oftentimes competing with other groups at those firms (e.g. Credit, Growth, etc.), whereas that's not really the case in the Sixth Street platform. Though as Sixth Street grows I could see the same issue arising if they seek to define the different areas more.
Based on my limited interactions with them seems like a very small firm but I would imagine they need to start ramping up hiring given the AUM growth.
Confirming they recruited during on cycle. Two analysts in my group interviewed with them the first morning but not sure which groups at Sixth Street. Neither received offers though they ended up at MF and UMM
From my limited understanding of Goldman's history, I believe they were formed out of the Volcker Rule in Dodd Frank which essentially prohibited many of the activities that SSG was involved with at the time. Instead of continuing to work at GS in a severely limited capacity, Alan Waxman and a bunch of GS partners decided to leave and start their own firm.
What are associates exit options if they want to leave Sixth Street? In particular, what sort of hedge funds would find their associates attractive candidates? Do they have a strong enough name for tiger cubs / does their experience fit with that sort of exit?
considering they're more of a special situations / esoteric credit / distressed investor, no you will not get looks at the standard tiger cub
Agree, not at a “standard tiger cub”. However, think plenty of great public equity exits if that’s their interest
I disagree with the others if you are on their growth / Strategic Capital team. I’d think you could get looks from the private crossover teams at Tiger, Coatue, Viking, etc. if you have the right school / bank combos. Probably more of an uphill climb for the traditional HF side but what you are doing isn’t that much different (non-control equity).
FWIW - they bought the Neiman Marcus term loan at close to par (maybe 85-95c cost basis), road it down to 70s the first go around out of court, then road it down again to 30-40c in the Chapter 11 and took take-back equity as their recovery. Their cost basis in TL I wouldn't call a good outcome even if the post reorg equity eventually ends up working out. DK bought the loan towards the lows and did well. Sixth Street also made same mistake in JCP TL buying at 90c, so distressed retail certainly isn't their forte.
They're a powerhouse private credit fund that's expanded more into public credit / hybrid credit (reverse of what other funds are doing) with flexible capital base. Smart guys and very big team (in aggregate).
Here's a few public decks on them:
https://imperial.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=714&met…
https://sers.pa.gov/pdf/Investments/Investment%20Materials/09-29-2021-S…
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/OTT/Pension-Funds/Investment-Advisory-Cou… (starting pg 54)
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