Differences between European and US PE
What are the biggest differences between European and US PE? Everything I can find online heavily stresses the technical differences (more LP friendly waterfall, carry clawbacks, mgmt fee waivers, legal regimes, etc.), but I'm looking for some of the softer insights that usually can only be learned on the job.
Have a big interview coming up and really need to ace this question, so appreciate any input that anyone has. Thank you in advance!
The technical differences you pointed out have an obvious effect on the fund's economics. Obviously US funds have better economics which translate into better pay. To highlight some of the other differences, I would say that European funds also tend to:
-have a latter entry point (ie. tend to target 3rd year analysts and first year associates)
-have slower path to promotion
-do not put much if any emphasis on MBA (ie. MBA not necessary for promotion)
-put a ton of focus on languages and international experiences
Thank you for your input!
I also was wondering, do you have any insights on the differences in strategy that PE firms may take in Europe vs the US to generate value through operational improvements? Or even just differences in the way that European funds will interact with their portfolio companies?
For example, I've heard anecdotally from a few analysts that due to certain labor laws that are stricter in Europe, it's harder to simply cut costs to achieve stronger financial performance, so European funds have to be more innovative when it comes to operational improvements. I've also been told that management teams play a larger role throughout the period of investment, and working hand in hand with them for operational improvement is more common than, say, stripping the management team and replacing them with better talent.
Does this ring true or is this an over-simplification?
Getting rid of people is definitely a lot harder and expensive than it is in the US so that definitely plays into the strategy. In many European countries, it cost hundreds of thousands of euros to let go of employee and in many case, you actually have to get government permission so cost cutting is much harder. But I think that the attitude is also a bit different, in the early days of PE, it was pretty commons in the US to successfully acquire companies through hostile bids, something you just never see in Europe creating a mentality among US PE of "we come in because we know better than you do / we are the smartest guys on the street". In Europe, companies have always been protected from hostile takeover so funds have had to rely on collaboration and value-add in order to successfully convince targets. Things have changed a lot since then, the market is flooded with dry powder so US funds have had to tone down the aggressiveness to some extent, but I think there is still quite a difference.
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