I will be going through SA program (Return offer on the table) at a top PE megafund and I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some tips and advice. I have done internships at well-known firms (BB, etc), but I have zero IB experience.
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Hi SirGrayWalrus, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:
Private Equity Forum ... Has anyone jumped into PE post college and skipped IB? If so and even if you haven't what are ... .com/forums/private-equity-interview-questions-a-complete-guide">PE Intervie
No promises, but sometimes if we mention a user, they will share their wisdom: @Calvin41116" @ACP7" Themistocles
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
Good luck.
No tips though? :(
Bump lol
I’m in a “similar” situation as I’ll be interning at a large pension fund in PE. They don’t really seem to recruit from their interns, except for some rare exceptions. Don’t have any IB experience but I’ve worked on direct investments and fund investments before at a previous internship.
The structure/comp/prestige may be very different but the goal is the same: to impress enough that they hire you. Also looking for advice if anyone has it.
Also interested in how to position myself for FT recruitment in IB if it doesn’t work out. My understanding is because most of our work will be done with IBs and almost everyone working there is ex-IB the networking part should be relatively straightforward, but I’d be interested in feedback from others having gone through a similar situation.
Bump
I think There are two questions here: 1) should IB analyst experience be a part of my career development as i work towards a goal of being a senior Guy at a PE fund one day and 2) should i put my eggs in the one basket of this PE fund / skip IB recruiting
For 1) if you know you want to be in PE / HF, there is nothing you will learn as a banking analyst that is key to being in PE. As an IBD analyst you will basically learn entry level financial skills as well as just how to be organized and work in an intense office setting. You will learn all of this as a PE analyst. However in banking you will have to put up with 2 years of a job where 70% of the stuff is basically boring admin work while pulling crazy hours
For 2) if there is a good chance to be hired for FT i would go for it. If its just a summer job you will need to figure out how much risk you want to take in finding a PE analysr job. Banks may be skeptical as they know you really want to do pe, however you still can prob find a banking job after the summer.
If you are risk averse / unsure of chances of getting full time PE job then just do banking for 2 years and you can recruit. I did 2 years at top ibd bb group and am going on 3 years in pe and i surely would skip the banking if i could do it again
I would like to be in PE/AM
Yes, this program is meant to transition as a full-time analyst.
Should I take on WSP for financial modeling though?
First off, congratulations on landing the internship offer at the megafund. I imagine you're going to be at Blackstone, Bain, or Silver Lake? If that's the case, both have pretty storied summer analyst and analyst programs, so I'm not sure you'd have to worry at all on being behind the curve. Here's what you will lack initially vs. your banking peers: potentially becoming "super" efficient at modeling/presentation prep and a potentially larger network of peers in the finance community.
Where you'll benefit, however, is with brand name and accelerating your career by 2 years. You're likely pretty smart and pretty finance-savvy already for landing this internship. Assuming you convert to full-time, you'll be able to move onto HF roles that people in private equity are just beginning to look at. If that's what you want to do, you're really in a good spot. If you look at any of the Blackstone PE analyst alumni, they're absolutely crushing it.
Thank you!
I am really excited about this opportunity and at the same time really nervous because I have not done formal (structured) Summer Analyst program before. Do you think it is a good idea to get something like WSP or BIWS modeling courses to familiarize myself with financial modeling?
Does your firm not already have you do that as part of your summer analyst training? If not, it's not a bad idea. Take a look through the Macabacus models as well. Most of your learning should come through the job, though.
I would take some time to learn modelling. There is no magic way that IBD interns learn modelling, in my experience you were thrown in the deep end. You get asked to build a model and someone will send you a model from another deal and you figure it out.
Modelling actually isnt so important for summer interns. The most important thing is to have a good attitude. Second would be attention to detail - most of your work will be random analysis with basic math, such as summing up revenue for top 10 customers and calculating customer mix for different years. You will also make summary pages in PPT such as mapping out where a company has its factories, various charts and segment overview pages. The key to this is just basic attention to detail and printing stuff out before you submit to make sure the formatting looks decent enough.
I was an analyst at a prominent BB group and the interns didnt really do modelling for deals. We did have a modelling project where we basically pitched a potential LBO. My point here is that people dont expect summers to have perfect modelling skills.
If I were you i would self study or take a class so you have some experience (dont need to be perfect as everyone gets there is a learning curve). Stuff to know would be building an income statement with drivers (sales growth, gross margin, sga etc). Build a cash flow statement, and how to do a balance sheet and have it balance. Know how to model working capital with days sales, inventory turns etc. once you have that figure out how to build a basico LBO with sources and uses, debt paydown etc
Finally to the extent you dont get modelling work, you can make a good impression by asking one of the guys for a CIM that he recently built a model on. Show some initiative and try to run a quick LBO and then ask for feedback (obviously ask for this when the full time guy has downtime)
Also spend some downtime thinking at a higher level about the businesses you are working on. Showing you think like an investor will set you apart. Try to think about things like how much operating leverage is in the business model. What is the fixed / variable cost split? If we add volumes will margins increase quickly or slowly? What is the cash flow profile? Maintenance vs growth capex? What are the risks to the deal? Which of the growth opportunites seem plausible?
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