Ask me anything: Ex Banking Analyst in China + Incoming PE Analyst

Mandarin is a MUST. If you are unable to read or write, i STRONGLY advise against working in China. 10 years ago you could get away with it in Hong Kong since deals were mostly overseas IPOs (even for HK listings, all documentation is primarily done in English) but this is no longer the case. I would evaluate where your Chinese level stands and whether a intensive Chinese class at PKU/Tsinghua will be able to help significantly. You definitely need to read and write near perfectly.

Everything I worked on in my IBD role was China related. I worked on cross-border deals between China and HK, China and North America, and China and South America. With regards to my new PE role, i envision it will mostly be China and HK (I will be part of the China team).

Not for another 2 years at the minimum. My new firm encourages analysts to leave for an MBA and return.

I have no clue. Imagine doing everything on a normal IBD job in English. Now imagine doing it everything in Chinese. If you feel comfortable then you're golden. Otherwise, no test or "proficiency level" would matter.

1. I can only comment on Mainland China. My general feeling is this market is definitely too crowded. There are way too many shops, both local and international ones, chasing not enough quality deals. The deals have always primarily been growth capital (think high growth companies targeting an IPO within 2-3 years). Buyout deals are rare for a variety of reasons but some of the main ones i can think of include the fact that most small medium enterprises in China have been founded by first generation entrepreneurs who are not in a hurry to retire and thus are not interested in selling. Also, on-shore leverage is hard to come by and levering up from offshore is a) not cheap, generally 2nd lien and b) not tax efficient. 2) Obviously funds would want to trade-sell when IPO markets are cold but trade-sales don't happen as often as one would like for a host of reasons. Sometimes you can't find a strategic who's interested in buying up a minority stake, other times it's a matter of foreign ownership restrictions.Secondary tradesales to other funds sometime do happen but valuation is an issue (why would another PE fund buy your stake out at a higher price than when you invested?) My fund was one of the first to do a dividend recap in Asia but that was not a Chinese Co and it had extremely predictable and stable cash flows.
2. Been on the job for 3 months now and it's been a blend of looking at investment opportunities, executing a transaction (kick off, DD, IC documentation, etc), and post-transaction management.Work has been pretty varied IMO with 30% of my time modeling, 20% of the time working on internal documentation, 20% on the road visiting companies, 10% random stuff, and 20% of the time in meetings. I don't travel as much as consultants but definitely much more than when i was in IBD.
3. Better investor for sure. I came in at a time when more than a few of our investments have tanked and it's been more about post-investment value creation i.e.working with the Ops team and trying to turn around the business by implementing new marketing, improving SOP, new business direction, etc. It's very educational for me to look at companies once they've gone sour, especially when you contrast with the the "investment highlights" prior to completing the deal.

When you say 200-450K, is that all in? My firm pays about 200K+ at the associate level all-in but i was told this is below many of our peers. Think Warburg Pincus is closer to 400K, KKR is somewhere in the 250-300K range.