It seems like a lot of the Dallas-based funds are kicking off their process for 2019 start associates. Anyone have any opinions/insight on the best funds in terms of dealflow, culture, returns, b-school etc.? Funds that I've seen include Insight, Trive, Kainos, CenterOak, Redbird, CIC, Gauge, Lonestar, and several energy focused firms (NGP, EnCap, EMG, Tailwater, Pearl)
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Anyone have any specific thoughts re Kainos vs. Trive? They seem to be the 2 most legit MM firms in Dallas
Bump anyone know anything?
Trive is a better platform than Kainos. The only exception would be if you really want to do consumer.
Thanks! Anyone have any additional thoughts?
Missed this thread. Kainos has done alright, but the culture is meh IMO (stories from execs that had issues with one of the partners at HM and at Kainos). Spun out of HM to focus solely on consumer, particularly food.
Trive is aggressive and works on some challenging deals. They are definitely value guys that love to buy hairy companies on the cheap and improve operations and growth trajectory.
Prophet is mostly special situations focused and has been struggling to put money to work given the current seller-friendly environment. I like some of the guys over there.
Lone Star probably depends on the group, but turnover is high. I've heard expectations are unreasonable and it can be a high-pressure environment. We advised a debtor in a restructuring and those guys were pains in the ass to deal with (not that unusual for HFs in the space).
Insight - don't know them well, but seem to be doing well. Have looked at several of our opportunities. Seems like a good group. Will get a lot of looks given the broader criteria
CenterOak - Raised a $420mm fund with 3/4 still left; really trying to make more investments. Very active in the market. Ex-Brazos child, so research on that culture will give you a decent read here.
Gauge - Does a good job seeing plenty of deal flow, has been more active than most MM PE funds the past few years
Can definitely confirm on Trive. I'll also add that management has had prior success at Insight and a good track record so far. The firm is a hard 2 and out for associates though, so If you were thinking of trying to find a longer term role I would look elsewhere.
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I know one of the old Lone Star CEOs and they have a VERY HIGH turnover. That being said, they get paid out the ass for working in a low COL city like DFW. Bullet-Tooth Tony is dead on with Trive as well from what I've heard. Thank you for the insight.
Thanks for this. Haven't been able to find anything on Brazos' culture. Can you provide any color on CenterOak's culture? High level is it a good place to work with reasonable hours?
Any specific headhunters that are best for these shops/Dallas in general?
Does anyone have any insights on headhunters for Dallas area PE?
Friendly bump on Dallas PE Headhunters
For what it's worth, I really enjoyed speaking with the Gauge guys during my recruiting process. Got the vibe they are a long term option, and generally looking for folks from the south/Texas. Didn't believe a cali kid would stay long term....and were probably right haha
trive or die
Does 'Southern' PE differ from traditional PE recruiting (NYC/CHI/Boston) in the fact that you have to be from there or have deep connections to the state? Very curious about learning more. Kinda like West coast?
Does anyone have any perspective on comp for 1st/2nd year associates at buyside funds in Dallas?
~200-250k all in first year - From my experience, also more willing to allow co-invest than funds in other regions.
Is this pretty flat across all the names mentioned here? Obv. Trive is a fair bit larger than many of the other guys, wonder what the difference is in near vs long term,
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Bumping this, anyone have any new thoughts or insights?
Would love to hear if anyone has any new commentary to share here?
There are a lot of other decent shops that I haven’t seen mentioned here including Halifax, Luther King Headwater, Highlander (Not related to Highland, where I would not recommend), Rosewood, Trinity Hunt, Havencrest, Riata, Ridgemont, SunTx, Satori, Align, Sky Island, Paceline, Lantern, LongWater, Renovo, Transition, and a bajillion family offices and small independent sponsors. The Riverside Company also has a small office in Dallas.
Would love to hear your thoughts on these shops
Same. Particularly curious about Riata if anyone is familiar with it. Seems to have some fairly large names in its portfolio.
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