Differences between KKR, BX, Apollo, Carlyle, Bain?

Can anyone familiar with these firms comment on how the lifestyle/culture/investment style might differ at these megafunds?

Seems like a bit of a black box unless you know people working there. How are you suppose to tell headhunters your preferences?

14 Comments
 
ricottacheesethis is definitely a troll post. if you are not in a group that regularly sends people to these shops, chances are you are in no position to be choosey and have 'preferences'. its pretty clear that you fall in that category, otherwise youd be asking the second years/alum from your group rather than posting here.
i don't think it is. look at his post history. i just think he's got an offer from a good group and is planning too far ahead / socially awkward.
"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
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Oreos
ricottacheesethis is definitely a troll post. if you are not in a group that regularly sends people to these shops, chances are you are in no position to be choosey and have 'preferences'. its pretty clear that you fall in that category, otherwise youd be asking the second years/alum from your group rather than posting here.
i don't think it is. look at his post history. i just think he's got an offer from a good group and is planning too far ahead / socially awkward.

i stand corrected!

all that nonsense aside, i wouldn't recommend putting your eggs into the BX or Bain baskets as both firms have really cut associate recruiting (not completely cut, but much lower) after implementing PE analyst programs. not to mention BX PE also feeds associates from BX MA/RR and Bain Cap feeds associates from Bain consulting. TPG has also started an analyst program for this coming fall but we'll see what happens with that with regard to associate recruiting.

 
ricottacheesethis is definitely a troll post. if you are not in a group that regularly sends people to these shops, chances are you are in no position to be choosey and have 'preferences'. its pretty clear that you fall in that category, otherwise youd be asking the second years/alum from your group rather than posting here.

If I was not in a group that sends people to these shops, why would I bother asking this question...

 

With the exception of Bain (no first-hand knowledge, other than Sankaty) all of these have multiple locations and groups (industry-specific teams, VC, distressed/mezz/credit, hedge funds, etc) and are so large/institutional that culture can vary a lot. I know people are/have been at Apollo with vastly different experiences and opinions of the place, for example.

There have been many great comebacks throughout history. Jesus was dead but then came back as an all-powerful God-Zombie.
 

Four of these are public (relevant for economics).

Apollo is effectively a credit shop.

BX is a diversified asset manager.

KKR seems to be relatively more PE focused but could be wrong.

Carlyle is treading water. No clear strategy.

Bain remains a private partnership - focus still in legacy PE but trying to grow in other areas (eg Credit)

 

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