Employee co-invest into the fund: fee/carry-free, but vests

Hey all, quick one πŸ‘‹

My PE firm offered me the chance to co-invest into our own fund on GP terms β€” no management fee, no carry. Nice perk, obviously.

The catch: it works kind of like vesting. If I leave the firm, the unvested portion of my investment flips to normal LP terms, meaning I'd effectively pay fees + carry on that part. Vested portion keeps the GP terms.

Anyone dealt with this / seen it before? Two questions:

  1. Would you say this is normal / market standard?
  2. How's it structured at your shop β€” does your co-invest (or GP commitment) come with any leaver / vesting mechanics, or is it just fee-free full stop?

Trying to gauge how common the "co-invest terms vest with tenure" thing actually is. Cheers

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I’ve not seen the fee flip before so definitely wouldn’t say it’s market. At our shop, we make a commitment on a fee free basis and if we leave, the amount of capital called stays in on a fee free basis but you won’t receive further capital calls post departure.

What’s the leverage on it (and is it non-recourse)? Without that I wouldn’t consider co-invest an obviously nice perk, even without the fee flip…

People forget how great the S&P500 is without fees and without locking up your capital for a decade…
 

 

Agree, I know we debated on other threads, but I’ve only seen fee-free carry for employees (with no strings).

Agree that leverage / loans add another wrinkle, same with departure.

Also depends on framing. Above poster is a β€œI don’t get to” continue co-invest if I leave; I’ve more often seen β€œdo I have to” continue if I leave, given it can often be a material post-tax commit and may stack alongside another commit at your new job. Plus, your firm will have to find other colleagues to backfill your commitment (given GP commit is locked). 

 

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