Best London IBD Teams to PE

DISCLAIMER: will have to choose an IBD team soon, that's why asking

Hey guys!! 

Does anyone know which London IBD teams places best into PE? I've done my researches , but would also like to hear it from people in the sector as many post on this seem to be a little old now. 

I heard some London HHs saying to break into IBD Industrial, FIG and TMT (random order) as these are the most searched for  .. 

34 Comments
 

Wouldn’t say FIG places that well tbh, very specialised. You will do well with Industrials or TMT though both further divide into a lot of sub verticals. Some banks have separate teams for telco and media/tech for example, all under TMT. Bottom line is do your research and pick one that interests you more as well. Nothing worse than grinding the hours in a sector you aren’t remotely interested in

 

if PE is your goal in FS then you'll have to look at shops like JC Flowers who specialise in FS, most MF avoid that sector unless there's a big overlap with tech

 

Mostly you would still work on things like insurance, AM etc, the business models of FIG names are just too different from a normal EBITDA based company, and unless you’re determined to go into a FIG specialists buy side firm, you would be better off elsewhere IMO. Only exception is fintech and payment related deals, GS is big in this sector and has a specialist fintech team, i.e not covered out of FIG

 

Can analysts from more specialized groups like FIG or Natural Resources still be considered for generalist PE roles? From GS/MS/JPM

 
Most Helpful

1) most of FIG BB business is done with large insurance and banking clients and is unrelated to M&A, mostly strategic advice or capital raises or even simply for relationship purposes since your bank will have strong product ties with other banks too

2) Balance sheet heavy work very differently (eg most notably there no CF statement) so you won’t train yourself to the LBO / cap structure mentality

3) There’s generally a stigma from PE funds against FIG people. I’m not saying they wouldn’t hire them (I am the counter example) but I got rejected to so many places even before an interview just because I was FIG (and I was told so). If you wanna do PE, pick another sector team, with preference for HC, TMT, Industrial

 

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