Graham Partners
Anyone heard of Graham Partners- a middle market firm in Philly. What is their pay/ exit opps like?
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Sweatshop and below market comp. Founder is also notorious for being very wacky
Any stories?
what's first year analyst comp like?
I know them, am originally from the greater Philly area so many years ago I was thinking about making the move back closer to home, so I interviewed, networked into all of the big Philly shops, LLR, Susquehanna, etc.
I don't think I'd call it a crazy sweatshop, but it's not a lifestyle fund. Juniors get worked fairly hard, but the training is solid and there's a strong track record of internal promotion. Analysts are basically doing Associate type of work from day one. A couple of the juniors left a few years ago and punched up in terms of fund class and were able to move upmarket, which is a testament to the training/quality.
Returns have been solid, not amazing, but the genesis of the firm is that it's basically born out of the Graham family office. The Graham Family are the founders of many key injection mold plastic technologies, so basically a lot of modern packaging was created by the original Graham patriarch. They sold that business to big PE decades ago for $1B+ and that's the basis of their money. They are now mostly outside capital, but a base is still always rooted in the family.
Steve is the son of the Graham plastics founder. So he's more of a Kendall Roy and not a Logan. That is probably too harsh of a comparison, but you get the idea. He is a quirky guy not in a bad way, but he's a silver spoon guy, so the fund is kind of just his past time. It's not his life mission to make this fund successful so he can be rich, he's already rich. The other partners are generally pretty nice, basically wealthy Philly suburb type of vibe. I didn't get asshole vibes from any of them.
All in all, solid shop, people are all generally nice, it's more casual given it's location, but it's not a lifestyle shop. You'll work pretty hard as a junior, but the Graham Partners name is solid and industrials is a pretty good general place to be. Comp is light, but you're in Philly, so cost-adjusted, you're likely way better than your NYC peers.
If you have some ties to the Philly region, or jsut want to live in a nice suburb where you can make PE type of money, afford a house, send your kids to a good school (there are some great private day-schools in that area) I think it's about as good as you can do. You could easily live in Rittenhouse in a very nice apartment as a junior or have a place out in the main line area, which is also very nice.
If you're assessing Graham against other NYC based MM shops and you're coming from a Bank/place where you have other strong brands on the table, it should probably be towards the bottom of your list. Kind of just depends on where you're coming from.
yo, seperate question. I'm from philly and want to stay, recruiting for SA next year, any chance I can PM?
Sure
What’s LRS? Also, do you have numbers on the comp for Graham specifically for first year analysts?
Sorry meant LLR and no, no specific comp for analysts
Mrharveyspecter’s post is great and spot-on. Graham is probably the best PE seat in Philly if that’s where you want to be - I would’ve stayed in Philly (am from there) if I landed a role there but it didn’t work out so I ended up working in dreary ol Manhattan.
Nice people, good returns and growth, good training and promote from within culture. +1 on location being awesome for raising a family in a top-notch suburb but at a fraction of the price of say, Northern NJ / Westchester. Especially when it comes to property taxes. Close knit culture where like juniors will play tennis with Steve, stuff like that.
Graham is absolutely not the best PE seat in Philly especially in terms of comp. Tier 1 is Susquehanna Growth, LLR, Lovell Minnick. Tier 2 is Renovus (probably the most exciting right now), NewSpring, Graham. Tier 3 is a catch all of $1B AUM shops that have very specific strategies / rely on SBA funding for Mezz such as Boathouse, Argosy, or 1315 Capital. I would also bucket Edison into Tier 2 although they are technically NJ. Aquiline recently opened a local office so this list could shift overnight if their intention is to recruit talent here. I am in a senior role at one of these shops and am very connected to the PE landscape here. There is absolutely no reason to start your private equity career in Philly unless you have very strong, nepotism like ties to one of these shops. Merit is rarely rewarded and none of these funds will ever provide you compensation or experience like a traditional NYC analyst program. More rewarding to move over here in the mid to senior level. Just my two cents
damn that’s tuff
+1 on Philly PE scene being surprisingly nepotistic. Did you go to Haverford high? Cuz it matters.
One interesting aspect of Graham is they have a real undergrad summer intern program. Mainly Main Line rich kids but they sprinkle in some kids from targets as well. Good program with actual training and placement either into the firm or into IBD roles. Particularly good internship if you can get it after sophomore year as it makes getting junior year BB IBD internship a piece of cake.
Mind if i PM? Have a few questions about Renovus / Philly PE in general
Any further color on the merit not being rewarded point?
Lovell Minnick's returns have always been mid, i'd be surprised to see them raise another fund of a similar size
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