Best group at Bain Capital?
Hello, I’ve started PE recruiting for junior summer recently. I did this past summer at a BB and think I would rather start in PE, if possible. I’m really interested in Bain Capital, but they have a bunch of different groups with different internships. I know that PE (on here people call it NAPE) is what they started as, but some of the other groups seem really interesting, like special situations and tech opportunities (both raising new funds too). Anybody have advice on what group is best at Bain? WLB, comp, promotability?
Err.
Awesome, thanks for the input! When you say notable, what exactly does that mean? Would you pick special sits over other groups?
Bump
Bump. Also interested to hear if PE is still the most desired/coolest group and why.
RE is newer as well but have very strong returns (upper-mid to top). If you aren’t interested in RE however it’ll be hard to make the cut, they tend to run much leaner at most top shops and will weed you out quick
Bump
Bump!
Bain already closed their 2024 applications
This is for summer 2025, I’m a sophomore
bump
NAPE >>> tech ops > RE > credit > VC > life science >> double impact >> spec ops
For prestige / learning / comp, the above is true imo. But ultimately investing is a marathon not a sprint so go where your interests are
In terms of culture, each group is different (tech ops and NAPE likely the closest culture but still pretty different).
In terms of WLB you can probably read the list backwards and that’s mostly right
Pretty inaccurate. If it’s your opinion, that’s fine, but anyone in the industry or who works at Bain Cap would have tech opps near last in this listing and special sits on par with NAPE/RE. I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from
tech ops above credit is laughable
Flagship NAPE is certainly the fundamental strategy at Bain, with a long history of solid performance — but how has their performance been / look like going forward?
PE fund sizes shrinking, incredibly subpar returns (per this thread, see the green comment for fund IRRs). Limited AUM growth, lower returns, and shrinking fund sizes — how do people in the industry view this?
credit on the other hand is growing rapidly, seems that’ll pass Bain Cap NAPE AUM in just a matter of few years (PE at 70Bn, Credit at 56Bn)
just curious to hear the forums thoughts
Solid comment and I’m also curious what others have to say about this take, but just to be fair on a couple of your points, I don’t think that fund size has been shrinking, and returns for NAPE funds since 2014 have not been subpar (I saw somewhere else on WSO that they’ve actually been pretty good). I think the accelerating fundraising in credit/special sits is definitely noteworthy
cant compare credit and pe aum
PE fund sizes not shrinking (not sure where that's coming from but each fundraise has been larger than the last, and competitive with the largest fundraises across the industry if you're apples to apples across geographies). Returns have been good since 2008 (when all of the major MFs struggled for returns, unsurprisingly), 2014 top quartile and some huge exits recently for 2017 (should finish top quartile as well)
The credit business is fantastic but as a poster above mentions can't compare with PE because that includes a ton of different strategies (liquid, opportunistic, private, special sits, etc. some with lower risk-adjusted return hurdles) while PE remains large cap buyout only
The groups are all in different asset classes, so I would choose what asset class you want to be in then evaluate each group in the context of other firms in that asset class. There is no "firm ranking." The flagship strategy is NAPE, which is large-cap PE.
SSG
Can you share some thoughts? Would you take SSG over NAPE or credit?
Why?
Bump!
Interested, bump
PE/Credit/SSG are all great. Bain credit used to be called sankaty and everyone I’ve come across there is very bright (opportunistic side, cannot comment on PC). SSG spun out of credit recently to be a standalone unit. I’d put those three above tech ops / VC / RE / etc.
Life Sciences group is best-in-class, surprised hasn't been mentioned
Could just be because there aren’t too many funds with similar investment mandate? Like there are lots of HC focused funds, but not many that do all life sciences? Idrk, just guessing as to why it’s not as well known
does best in class matter when the class is 4 kids
What do NAPE and Credit summer analyst return offers look like? Where do those who do not receive return offers end up?
I think there was a thread in this recently
Bump on this
On a related note - anyone know if Bain intends to move into infra anytime soon?
Related Q: within NAPE, what are the strongest industry teams? Heard healthcare is really strong...
I usually dislike rankings but for Bain would say Healthcare and Industrials are strong. Tech is horrible, everything else in-between.
Any opinions on Bain Capital Ventures?
They aight
First off, for junior summer, the only teams that hire are Credit, Insurance, Real Estate, Private Equity, and Special Situations. For full-time, they will hire Tech Opps and Partnership Strategies. As OP has asked for a ranking for junior summer I will rank the groups that actually hire for junior summer.
1. Private Equity - this is the bread and butter strategy for Bain Capital and by far the most prestigious / best exit opportunities available from the firm
2. Credit / Special Situations - Credit is a lot older but Special Sits spun out of the Credit team and has had very successful fundraising as of late. Even though Credit is a more well-known brand name than Special Sits, I am going to keep them equal because Special Sits used to be a part of the Credit strategy and because your experience in Credit depends heavily on which team you are in (while in Special Sits you are already working on a really interesting strategy).
3. Real Estate - Not competing with tier 1 firms like BX or Starwood but a solid group. Some of their mandate is encroached on by Special Sits and Credit. Only RE exits.
4. Insurance - Far smaller than top-tier MF competitors (Athene, Global Atlantic). Very, very limited exit opps. Wouldn't recommend it unless interested in insurance.
As someone at a competing firm and who has friends at Bain Cap, I generally agree with this list, but I don’t think that NAPE is “by far the most prestigious / best exit opportunities”. Bain’s credit/special sits strategy has been around for 25 years and has had a lot of success over that time. I think the history of the core PE strategy is notable, but it’s not like most people wouldn’t kill for a spot in either PE or special sits at the firm. I mean is NAPE really “by far” better than credit/special sits? Also, the exit opportunities are just different between the three strategies, and it seems like the Bain Cap names carries just as strongly in each one for exit opps. PE guys get better looks for LBO PE, special sits guys get better looks for distressed/mezzanine/ special sits firms, and credit guys get better credit-related exits. It’s not like being in LBO PE automatically grants you access to all of the above.
Maybe I’m mistaken (as someone not actually at the firm), but given fundraising ease for credit/special sits vs PE (which is still doing well, but not as strong compared to other MFs LBO strategies), it seems like all three would be similarly regarded. Totally open to and welcome correction if I’m wrong, but that’s my perception based on what I’ve seen.
NAPE reputation has been on the decline while Credit/Special Situations reputation has only continued to improve
Like the comments below, think PE edge for exits may still be there just given NAPE’s history.
However in terms of long-term prospects would be quite bearish on NAPE and very bullish on credit.
NAPE rep is definitely declining as LPs are pulling from funds and having new funds raised at a cap barely above the previous, and every ~5-7 years, as opposed to 2-3.
Credit is growing at a rapid rate (not just Bain either) and its “rep” will certainly be on par with NAPE soon, if not already
Yeah don’t know if that PE exit edge is real… probably closer to equal. According to close friend who works there, credit/SSG have had exits to top tiger cubs/elliott in recent years
there's no one at TGM / coatue / lone pine / viking / scaled cubs from bain capital credit
Any more info on Bain Cap Life sciences? Is it a good group to enter relative to general PE? Also is biotech/life sciences investing a good path compared to other groups (heard life sci/biotech can pigeonhole).
To bump on a one point in OP’s post —
How does comp / promotability look like in the future?
Bain NAPE AUM isn’t increasing proportionally with headcount (relative to historical), average to below avg returns will result in heavily diluted carry if they keep promoting at the same rate — so is it really a place you can still see a viable promotion trajectory from analyst/associate to VP or even MD? Or will it become more like the Blackstone / KKR “two and out” types of programs
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