Blackstone Real Estate PE in London

There have been quite a few posts about REPE but most of them are about NY. I was wondering if people have an idea about Blackstone's REPE group in London. I know they hire one first year analyst a year but other than that, how are the prospects? The payscale in the first three years as analyst and then associate?

Any other info would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

If you want to do real estate, you can't do much better than Blackstone RE, comp-wise or otherwise - but I can't say I know any more about the London office than you do. Why do you ask? I'd be more worried about the work you'd be doing than how much you'd get paid. If you're doing the same shit that the analysts in the NY office do, then it would be completely stupid to turn down an offer there based on money.

 

Yeah, I know the starting salary is comparable to the industry average for Analyst positions in IB, I just didn't know how overall compensation compared.

Also, once you start in real estate, people on these forums often talk about "pigeonholing" yourself...so are you stuck in RE PE for good?

 

Well, once again nobody has any idea what comp is at a top REPE fund! 

I've been on here (and vault) for a long time and I've never really seen anyone post compensation info for REPE.I don't know why it's such a big secret, but it's annoying as hell.

 

Well, if you are coming form Blackstone REPE I don't think you will have any difficulty moving around. Especially if you move into PE or RE banking, because you have the modelling skills and if you are at Blackstone you get amazing deal exposure, ie Hilton, EOP, etc.

The compensation unknown, however, is a bit frustrating because bonuses for top REPE funds seem to be an enigma!

 

Clearly it isn't Blackstone REPE, but a friend of mine in a BB REPE (65B+ AUM) group made a 10k sign-on, 60k salary, and roughly 20k bonus. He worked about 55-60 hours a week. He spoke of most of the analyst bailing after 2-3 years for smaller REPE groups and upping their salary to about 100k salary, 60k bonus, same hours (55-60). Again, the prestige of this bulge in REPE isn't much, but it is a strong bank and clearly a huge fund. Hope this helps.

 

Krakauer, THANK YOU for pitching in there, that's good to know. 

Know anything about mid- or senior-level comp (that is, VP or MD+) at these funds?  Do you know if most of these analysts eventually have to get an MBA to keep moving up?

I've heard that you HAVE to get a top MBA to work at Blackstone or Starwood Cap.

 

comp at the VP to MD+ comp has been as good as the PE fund recently if not better.  (So top guys like Gray/Pike who run group cleared 100's of millions literally).  Then again, would next expect a repeat performance of last 3-4 years IRRs.  To offset they have a huge fund now and will pay very well through principal at which point carry matters a lot (IRRs begin to have huge impact on comp).  They pay competetively at the junior levels to other PE funds.

 

Honestly, REPE is pretty ambiguous. I think that the comp varies significantly depending on if you are working in a REPE group within the asset management division of a bulge, or if you are working at a traditional private equity firm with a real estate division, or a sole REPE firm. My only exposure is via my friend at the REPE of a top bulge, but again not usually known for REPE (though 65b+ AUM in comm RE). Associate and higher comp is pretty unknown, but it never seemed like anyone was "rolling".

I do think the REPE path can be untraditional: you may have to suck up a few years of 90k salaries (salary up 5k annually and approximately 15% bonus increase) at the analyst level before you leverage the name and the significant deal flow and move to a more opportunistic, probably smaller, group/fund. Aside from MS, I would probably look outside the investment banks for REPE related positions post-analyst.

Also, expect REPE to be down this year, and the next year(s) contingent on the economy. Deal flow is drying up significantly and many hiring freezes are in place. Infrastructure is, however, expanding pretty quickly and becoming somewhat of an "it" investment for PE. Perhaps short-term trend, but good modeling/asset management experience transferable to RE if needed.

Lastly, propose: I am not familiar with the MBA preferences at Starwood or Blackstone, but I've never noticed a MUST HAVE MBA for career advancement. I've seen a lot of NYU and Columbia RE master's degrees though.

 
Best Response

London REPE at Blackstone is top-notch. Those guys get worked to the bone though (e.g. banking hours or worse) but they are by far the best real estate investors around. Exit opps are pretty sick from there too (actually on average better then PE) but thats mainly because its a much larger team and has a significant junior base (unlike the PE team). Comp should be above the banking comp and def more than the 40k that somebody above mentioned there plus healthy bonus. They also do an annual ski trip to Verbier which is nice

People mostly exit to hedge funds (examples include York, Monarch, ENA, Och Ziff and a bunch of other ones) but really those guys have their pick and no issues going wherever they want.

"too good to be true" See my WSO Blog
 
GBB_19NHS:

London REPE at Blackstone is top-notch. Those guys get worked to the bone though (e.g. banking hours or worse) but they are by far the best real estate investors around. Exit opps are pretty sick from there too (actually on average better then PE) but thats mainly because its a much larger team and has a significant junior base (unlike the PE team). Comp should be above the banking comp and def more than the 40k that somebody above mentioned there plus healthy bonus. They also do an annual ski trip to Verbier which is nice

People mostly exit to hedge funds (examples include York, Monarch, ENA, Och Ziff and a bunch of other ones) but really those guys have their pick and no issues going wherever they want.

lol you're replying to a post from 2008... comp is around 55-60K GBP base and around 100% bonus for first years

 

on the interview questions they may ask you to build a paper LBO, know the concept behind cap rates / how to value real estate. What real estate you would like to personally invest into and why and a bit on the market (e.g. know London CRE a bit). There may be a brain teaser in there but nothing crazy I would imagine

"too good to be true" See my WSO Blog
 

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