How Sweaty is Infra PE
Always heard that Infra PE can be very sweaty so wanted to check. Could it actually be worse than IB in the MFs?
What are the hours like from Monday to Friday / and on weekends?
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Infra PE is generally considered less "sweaty" than traditional IB or PE roles, especially at mega-funds (MFs). Based on the most helpful WSO content:
Hours: Infra PE tends to have better hours compared to traditional PE or IB. While some groups are moving closer to traditional PE hours due to increased competition and deal activity, the lifestyle is still generally more manageable. The culture in Infra PE is often described as less intense, with people being smart but not as "finance hardass."
Weekends: Weekend work is less frequent compared to IB or traditional PE. However, this can vary depending on the fund, deal flow, and specific team culture.
Overall Lifestyle: Infra PE professionals often highlight the better work-life balance as a key reason for staying in the space. The deals are competitive and exciting, but the culture is more collaborative and less cutthroat.
In summary, while Infra PE can still be demanding, it is typically not as grueling as IB at mega-funds, making it a more sustainable option for many professionals.
Sources: Infra PE recruiting / prep, Q&A - Infrastructure PE & IBD, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/ib-pu-vs-infra-project-finance-teams-for-infra-pe-recruiting?customgpt=1, How to have a long career in PE?, PE is the new IB - IB is the new Big4
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I’ve heard it’s worse than a sauna
Bump - Any intel / crazy stories?
I heard its sweater given capital-intensity but modeling is more logical less theoretical
So if I read correctly - it’s because models are more complex? I.e - would someone who is excellent at Excel / sharp have an easier time?
moreso parsing hundred page contracts into a sensible model is the hard part, sourcing hundreds of assumptions from both contracts and the physical/operational profile of the asset itself, tons of legal dd, real estate, contracts, project financings, regulatory risks, etc that you have to get pretty deep in the weeds in.
Bumping on this - anyone got intel at how does a typical week looks like at these places?
Have worked at a couple of the large cap infra funds, would probably say run-rate 70 hours when not cranking on a deal but when we are (and that is often) probably closer to high-80s+ for fairly significant stretches of time (a couple months)
Thanks for this datapoint - how are your hours from M-T and weekends? And how often do you stay past 2 am?
Worked at a sweaty MM infra PE shop. For associates, deal team run rate was 9am-1am everyday. Weekends were almost always killed. VP+ on the deal teams were calmer. For IR associates, 9am to 10pm on average. 1am on bad days. Weekends sometimes killed. Didn’t matter the rank.
That’s rough - were people constantly resigning or what was their incentive to stay? Can’t imagine banking being worse except for a few sweatshops
The pay, (at least for the deal team) good exit ops, location, the experience (heavy deal flow), and prestige. Average tenure was 2 years for junior employees. Toxic culture. Brainwashed people into thinking working 24/7 was good. Always trying to one-up each other with how much work you were doing. Pay increase after working there for me was over 100%.
It's like working in sauna.
If you cant handle the heat, get out of the kitchen
How much worse is it than buyout at a MF tho
How difficult is it to go from infra pe to generalist pe or repe? Are you kind of boxed in to infra, or can you still exit to other groups?
9-5 for me, occasionally log back in after 8pm to do some stuff. Once in a while past midnight or weekend work around closing a deal. But generally great work life balance. Granted, I have a few analysts to delegate to so life isn’t that hard
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