Charlesbank vs Berkshire 2023

Bump

Pretty obvious choice here is Berkshire, CB not in the same league

Eh, have to disagree with that poster. Berkshire might have historical “prestige” but they’ve struggled to raise funds recently. CB’s fund size has only gone up over the last 20 years and they’ve been doing well recently + are growing. It’s more of a bet on the past vs. future IMO

That’s fair, I could have been more rigorous. I don’t think it’s a given that all funds are destined to grow, though - plenty of small funds stay small. My general sense is that CB has a better future trajectory though.

Both good firms. Even with solid recent raise, think CB is a half step below Berkshire. Berkshire still slightly bigger, still seems to invest in slightly more interesting companies and partnership deals (totally subjective but just my POV), and still has more success getting associates to the right next steps (b-school or otherwise). Also, this is maybe a dated view by 1-2 years, but CB is notorious for being a really tough place to work ... porting over the whole tech team from another fund wasn't exactly seamless, had some turnover at mid/senior levels even aside from that, and associates get worked to the bone. All that said, agree it will be super interesting to see how the next 1-2 fundraises go for each firm. 

I would suggest Berkshire. Yes the last fund was a bit of a struggle to raise but they have a pretty good long term track record. Good culture, people there have strong pedigrees, and you will get good training.

Charlesbank has a good fund trajectory but returns across recent funds seem a bit spotty. Also as the previous poster mentioned the culture can be a bit more intense (especially the ex Pamplona guys)

Anybody who the HH for both are?

friends headed/at both -- so not firsthand, take my POV with a grain of salt. both great brands, BP seems to be past its prime... CB potentially on the up ( though it's difficult for any PE to scale nowadays). BP's less focused on value investing... focused more on "quality" which led to them paying some pretty enormous multiples in this fund as well as the last according to friends. Hard to see how LPs will appreciate a fund making similar mistakes twice over. Brand matters, but only for so long if returns continue to be sub-par, all this to say eventually suboptimal performance will catch up with brand. CB writes smaller checks, have heard it's a little sweatier but tend to deploy a little bit more carefully from what I hear. CB hired rapidly over COVID so will be interesting to see how promotion funnel expands (or not). Definitely can't go wrong with either, but would definitely spend more time understanding BP's returns / why etc.