How can I get into a Secondaries shop?
Hey guys, my background is that i've been working at a private fund placement/PFG boutique in London for 1y. I come from a decent academic background (UK semi-target) and had LMM IB internships before taking this role FT. I have worked on deals within the secondaries space (mainly direct secondaries funds, ie. venture secondaries etc) and have found their investment model to be extremely interesting. My only exposure to these funds has been in a fundraising capacity, so while there is a certain level of understanding/DD i've had to take to understand and subsequently pitch these funds to LPs, I haven't had any direct technical experience that could be considered 'translatable' vs. someone who's been either in a more technical IB vertical or an investing seat.
What is a path for someone like me to break into a secondaries fund? I would love the chance to be in an investing seat, but would even consider a fundraising seat at the right shop. Again, my boutique is quite small and doesn't carry the same name as a Campell Lutyens/Rede and certainly not the exposure a PFG team at, say, UBS/Citi/EVR has. I am based in LDN but have work authorization in the US and Canada.
Anecdotally, a lot of the buyside seats are being taken by those with a background in M&A so it will be tough from a fundraising background (esp. if it is not a top shop such as EVR). In all honesty, I've never heard of it as the skillset is fundamentally different/lacking any technical (namely valuation) work, but a LinkedIn search may prove otherwise.
I have some seen some exits from people in Secondary Advisory to Secondaries Buyside, however. Happy to be corrected, but my advice would be try and get yourself into a Secondary Advisory seat at a top shop and go from there. Still won't be easy, but possible if you can build a very strong technical grounding in the space at a top shop.
Alternatively, if you work on the sell-side and do a really good job, one way in is to be directly recruited by the secondary investors as a result of your performance. To be clear - this is not easy or a clear cut path. But it is possible.
Finally, as I'm sure you're aware, you could do a master's and re-enter the recruitment cycle.
Thanks for this, very helpful. Is the lateral process from a PFG boutique into an equivalent team at a BB/EB something possible in this market? I've found limited case studies on LinkedIn and candidly it is a very different fundraising environment vs. 2020-2022 etc. My goal to would be to get to a shop doing secondary advisory eventually, which ik some EB/MM can house under the same PCA mantra as PFG
I've also considered the masters route and am curious how valuable my experince thus far would be percieved, being that it is FT but certainly not an M&A/M&A adjacent role (ie. IB coverage team). Curious to hear what you think of my background/profile overall if I undertook a target masters and re-recruited
I’ll be honest, as someone that is in secondaries advisory, I don’t think we’d take anyone from the primary fundraising side of things. We have enough interest from people in M&A or other secondaries advisory shops that we’d rather take someone that either has more technical experience from M&A or can hit the ground running with secondaries experience. We work with our primary teams and are keenly aware of the type of work they do and it’s not directly applicable. Maybe you’d have a better shot with an LP-led advisory role as opposed to GP-led advisory but moving from there to secondaries buyside is fairly challenging given the lack of technical work required in LP-led advisory.
On the first point, I'm unsure as I'm not in the fundraising space. What I can tell you, however, is that I see no reason why it would not be possible; there is high churn at certain shops (notably EVR) as they work incredibly hard and for many it's not sustainable/desirable. I've had a few inbounds over the past few months myself. The PCA and PFG teams are separate, though, as they are at most of these shops.
On the second point, I used to work in one of those "PCA" teams that then internally was divided between Primaries and Secondaries. The workstreams are separate and you may work with one another, but they are very separate. Possible to switch? Yes. Easy? No. I think if you have a genuine interest/passion, get along with the team and have taken time to understand secondary processes, then if a seat came up you're in a good position to push internally. To be clear, it didn't happen during my stint in PCA, but I also didn't know anyone who wanted to (they get paid the same base and did better hours at my previous shop a few years ago now).
My understanding broadly speaking is that there may be some firms - or teams within specific firms - that do both or have a somewhat blended approach (ie. CL / PWP come to mind). You'd have to do some research, here, however. If I was you, I'd scrub up your CV + narrative and reach out to people; ask for coffee, ask for advice and build a rapport. Perhaps if a seat comes up, they'll keep you in mind. I always find people on this platform forget to put enough weighting on the enjoying sitting next to someone for 70/80+ hours a week. To recognise what below poster mentions, I'd say this is much more applicable at the junior level. Past the associate I'm unsure if this would work as your responsibilities shift, of course.
On masters - I didn't do one and nor do I plan on it, so can't be much help. I'd check LinkedIn and reach out to people on this front. Happy to dm you if you want a chat on any of the above.
DM Me - happy to share my thoughts privately
Your best bet is to join a broker doing secondary deals for a year or two Lazard, Nomura, Rede etc. and then move to a secondary team in London. You're not going to be able to get a role in the US
I’ve been doing secondaries for 20 years and have never heard of Rede or Nomura doing a deal
Rede does a few a year, Nomura is trying to build out a team now, don’t think they’ve closed anything yet.
Lazards obviously the biggest in London, but could be easier to move to a new team.
Seeing mentions of banks in this thread that I’ve never seen on a secondary trade… Nomura and PWP??
Pwp ran a tender offer recently for a mid market fund. Was probably the worst process I was ever involved in
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