Corporate Development Investing to Private Equity
My background is a little varied. I graduated from a target school and worked in the LevFin group of a BB out of undergrad, then joined a top-tier private credit group and am now working in a "Corporate Development" role at a company that focuses on consumer investments (restaurants/gyms/hotels/etc..) and real estate (company is $2-5BN top line).
I joined this new role because 1) I wanted to get on the equity investing side of things, 2) Have more C-Suite exposure, 3) Get a better understanding of operations/business strategy and 4) Work on smaller teams and have broader responsibility.
I work on a really lean team that does everything from FP&A, M&A, Real Estate Analysis/Negotiation, Investor Relations/Capital raising and I work directly with the VP of Corp Dev/CFO/CEO. I actually have been learning a lot and am enjoying the work, but didn't realize how much the comp cut would bother me when I compare myself to my former peers/PE professionals (doesn't look like there is much upward trajectory either). I enjoy learning about the FP&A/forecasting intricacies, but can see myself getting tired of all the reporting we do for our board/banks/others.
At the end of the day I still enjoy the diligence/deal work the most and want to transition to private equity after a year or two and just wanted to see how people feel my background would fit for a Sr. Assoc/VP role in PE?
Hey dogboo, what a lonely thread. I'm here since nobody responded ...so maybe one of these discussions will help:
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
I am in a very similar role. I am doing corporate development for a fairly large group in a smaller state. We work in automotive, sports, entertainment, insurance, and sub-prime loans. The exposure is incredible. The team is very small (2 of us) and we work with the CEO/CFO on all the deals. I have been here 2 years and we have done close to $500M in acquisitions. But I am starting to wonder what's next?
I think my experience is strong and I think I bring a strong quantitate/qualitative skill set. However, it isn't a traditional track to go into PE. I chose a firm that most people have never heard of but I have an amazing role with great exposure to C-Suite, but I am afraid it came at the expense of not being able to move on. The mobility here is very limited. My boss is also the CFO of a 10K employee company so there is no hierarchy, which, like I said, is good and bad.
Part of the reason I know my time is running short is available funds. We are about to sign a major acquisition. I think that could shut the faucet off.
Smaller, (overlapping) industry focused PE shops would probably be open to your background. I doubt you'd get VP level but probably sr. associate.
Comp in PE may be lower than you think due to the smaller nature of shops which will accept the "non traditional" background.
doing deals is just one component of PE investing. You may get Associate 2 at a smaller firm if you are lucky.
What's the skill gap between PE and Corp Dev? I thought the skill-sets were mostly the same - modelling and valuations, sourcing and analysing potential deals from a buyside p.o.v, arranging financing, negotiations, running the deal process, industry experience etc.
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