I currently have an offer at a consulting firm (A&M/AlixPartners/FTI) out of undergraduate. Do you think that there are any decent chances in breaking into PE from a consulting firm like this? I know that these firms are well regarded because of their restructuring and turnaround reputations so I was thinking maybe distressed PE firms would take interest in somebody coming out of this sort of role. The position I'm being offered is focused around a broad variety of things within the company so it is not quite specific on a turnaround role as you would progress to that if you were to stay with the company for longer I believe.
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I am interviewing for a Distressed PE in Europe and honestly a lot of guys come from accounting or consulting background because they are operational oriented.. but I think you chances start and end there: Special Situation PE with focus on operational restructuring. IB is still the best way to break into private equity in my opinion
Most distressed PE funds wouldn't consider you for an associate role, the experience you get won't really be helpful for that. Different story if you are more senior at one of those firms and lateraling in a different capacity but for an investing role go to IB.
I have an experience from one of those firms - pleeeenttyyy of people left for PE, both in the US and Europe - usually mid-cap PE firms. . Also, bear in mind that these three, in addition to restructuring work, these companies also do quite a bit of PE work, especially the first two (Pre and Post deal).
Okay thanks for the info. I am aware that for PE placement many people say you would take on a more operational role if you were switch over from consulting but I just thought that restructuring might possibly be a different scenario as maybe your experience could help out with identifying possible investment opportunities by developing sort of a keen eye for spotting companies that need that help. Having this confirmed will definitely help with my decision so thanks again.
People are actually placed into both investment and operating roles (and mixed). Being part of the restructuring team at one of the above firms will actually prepare you better than being part of the PE team doing tonnes of DDs. The latter focuses more on operational stuff (DD, PMI, Carve-out, Post-Acqui Growth) whilst the former allows you to build a mix of financial and operational skills. You will be doing a lot of financial modeling similar to IBD (e.g. distressed M&As, debt restructurings etc.) whilst also delivering operational turnarounds / CRO support. I don't think people on this website really understand what RX consulting is - it involves a lot of financial and operational knowledge which in my opinion would put you in a PE recruitment sweet spot these days. RX consulting hires a mix of people - former PE investors, IBD bankers, restructuring lawyers, traditional strategy (MBB) and implementation/ops (Big 4) consultants and you will have plenty of varied characters to learn from. Personally I love the job and it offers a good mix between banking/consulting/law skills.
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