Chicago Private Equity - Help for 1st Year analyst
Does anyone have any insights into the private equity market in Chicago? I am a current 1st year BB analyst in NYC looking to transition over eventually.
I know the big firms are GTCR, MDP, and BDT with each at $5bn+ AUM. Has anyone worked with these firms and what associates typically do after their 2 years? Do they have the option to stay or do most go to top business schools?
Would love to get anyone's opinions on these firms and how to get looks from them.
In terms of getting looks from the three you mentioned, it’s pretty standard. They are run by the same recruiting firms as your typical NY PE funds. This could have changed since I recruited, but GTCR was run by Dynamics, BDT by Henkel, and I recall MDP going through gobuyside. So definitely make your interest in Chicago (+ good reasons why) to those headhunters. If Chicago is a stand-alone first option for you, I’d also tailor my answer to ideal type of firm to fit these places as you talk to each respective recruiter. Should try to verify that these HH names haven’t changed.
BDT as explained is the merchant bank model. Byron Trott has an incredible reputation - there’s a few articles out there on this. The spin on what you are interested in here should be pretty straight forward.
GTCR has had very strong returns on a number of their recent funds. They fly out out a good portion of the team to NY as soon as recruiting kicks off for a cocktail event. Most people agreed there was a bit of a macho type of culture / personality to the team. Would not expect a step up in lifestyle - sounded like junior folks were getting crushed.
MDP also has a great reputation. No first hand knowledge here but from people in my office who worked with these guys, sounded like the culture was very buttoned up / old school, and associates were just asked to churn and churn / not speak for the most part. Again, this is just one-off comments from collueges, so it’s not bulletproof.
Would imagine b-school placematas are top notch across the board.
On the other names, Vista went through Henkel as well. I’ve got no clue on edgewater / Thomas bravo.
There’s a host of strong funds a step down in size, with latest funds in the ~750m - ~1.5bn ballpark, but if that’s below what you are looking for, the names mentioned in this thread cover the larger upper MM / megafund names I was aware of.