I Squared Capital PE SA vs Top BB/EB Junior IB SA

Hi, I was wondering if it would be better to take a Junior Summer Internship at I Squared Capital, the infrastructure PE firm, or opt for a BB or EB Junior IB SA. I am aiming for PE as a long-term career and if I took the I Squared SA, I would try to get the return offer for a full-time analyst role. (They have begun building an analyst program). I read that it is hard to place into UMM or MF PE roles after IB, even at top IB groups, so would it be worth it to just go straight into I Squared?

Is a full-time PE analyst role at I Squared or a top BB or EB IB group out of college better? 

Also, with I Squared's recent $15B new third fund raised, would they be considered a UMM/MF in the infrastructure space?

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I would take ISQ over every bank apart from top 3 BBs (GS/MS/JPM), especially given your goal of working in PE in the LT.

Also, ISQ is an Infra MF. They are absolutely killing it with massive returns. They have grown quite fast and you’ll be exposed to live deals. 
 

On top of that, as you’ll be working in live deals my guess is that you’ll interact with various bankers throughout the internship. Hopefully, you can then leverage those interactions and get an internship / full time offer.

FYI I did an internship in a pure play infra player with the same dimension of ISQ and then joined an EB. Feel free to msg me any question you may have!

 

Did you ever work in the platforms that these infra funds build/scale on?

E.g: i interviewed with ISQ, but I will mostly be working one of the new infra-platform.

So it is like a bridge-role between a developer/IPP start-up to the headco ISQ?

 

Worked at ISQ a few years ago — go there especially if you’re looking to do PE in the future. It’s intense but worthwhile, you will learn a lot if you take advantage. They are also very understaffed, so you will get excellent experience

 

Did you ever work in the platforms that they build/scale on?

E.g: i interviewed with them, but I will mostly be working one of the new infra-platform.

So it is like a bridge-role between a developer/IPP start-up to the headco ISQ?

 

Does the sweatshop mindset apply to the platforms that they build/scale on?

E.g: i interviewed with them, but I will mostly be working one of the new infra-platform.

So it is like a bridge-role between a developer/IPP start-up to the headco ISQ?

 

Bump with updated views? Low return rate it seems and super sweaty hours so hard to ft recruit?

 

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