Best European mid market buyout funds

Question

What do you think are the best European mid market private equity firms in buyout in London? Is speaking several European languages a truly competitive advantage to work at those PE firms or just an illusion?

swiss_monkey · Accepted Answer

I don’t understand what you mean. If ‘best’ is defined by the prestige, then the bigger the better. You can (quite easily) google this information.
If what you are looking for is understanding which firms have the best culture or the best partners (as persons) to work with, there’s basically no answer to your question. First of all because the fit as human beings is a bilateral thing - it depends not only by the other, but also by yourself. Secondly, it depends on what you are looking for. I’ve always worked at boutique firms and my current fund isn’t an exception.

swiss_monkey · Answer

"Winnfield"
I'm fine on the languages front, was just trying to put a focus on Southern Europe within the general domain of the OP's question - don't see what's so odd or confusing about that.

The point is that I’d be more interested in understanding which firms to avoid instead of which are the best ones, in your shoes. Most of the funds I’ve mentioned have a so small team that knowing they are “the best” brings you nowhere. They quite likely won’t have a ‘recrutiment cycle’ as they’ll add staff only if they raise a new fund or to substitute someone leaving.

swiss_monkey · Answer

As long as you invest in companies in France/Germany/Italy/Spain/... you need to be able to work in that language(s). Companies in those countries will have BoDs completely held in the country’s language and only the presentations will be in English (frequently, not always).
This is particularly true for the lower end of the MM, as even small firms (up to 50mln turnover) with global presence are owned and directed by French/German/Italian/Spanish people most likely than not.

swiss_monkey · Answer

My understanding re Partners Group is that they tend to hire a lot of juniors (analysts/associates) and develop internally the people for senior roles.
This would make sense if you think about the number of employees at a global level (800?).
Just like GS or JPM, they don’t need to hire a VP/D from other firms as they have a number of associates, some of which may have the talent to become a VP/D and already have a deep understanding of their culture (which I understand is extremely “confidential-biased”, as you might expect from a Swiss financial services business).

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Best European mid market buyout funds

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Best European mid market buyout funds

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