London: Secondaries or M&A
If you had offers for both of these advisory careers, which would you take, and why? Please keep specific to London if possible.
Trending Content - Private Equity Forum
| +89 | Nothing to do at work & bored to hell | 9 | 1d |
| +67 | Do people over-index on 'moats' | 22 | 1d |
| +53 | Predicted Net Worth in Trodden Finance Path by 60? | 20 | 1d |
| +44 | Biggest (avoidable) failures in PE Investments? | 25 | 1d |
| +38 | Why is ROIC never really a topic when looking at companies IRL | 11 | 5d |
| +24 | What do you think of PE Value Creation Careers in 2026? | 7 | 16h |
| +17 | LT Career Path after MF PE Associate Program? | 5 | 1h |
| +15 | Honest opinions needed about lateraling | 5 | 14h |
| +12 | NY LMM PE Recruiting | 3 | 2d |
| +12 | How to approach Buyside Recruiting | 3 | 6d |
Career Resources
bump
Depends on the group
Could you please elaborate?
It depends which company you are talking about. Some companies will have better PCA than M&A and other way around.
If you're mainly solving for optionality down the line, M&A most likely wins.
But if you have a genuine interest in Secondaries and don't mind specializing early, Secondary Advisory is a phenomenal place to be atm
Especially the teams at EBs are fantastic: Better WLB than the Coverage teams, excellent pay across all levels, and high dealflow in a continuously growing and evolving asset class.
Should the focus on LP vs GP-leds make up a factor in this choice?
Uh yes. You aren't getting rich doing only LP stuff unless you work for Evercore. This sounds like Raymond James (Cebile). If so, you definitely want to be on the M&A team and not secondaries - they're not a legit practice.
Just don't go somewhere sketchy like Cebile/Raymond James
What's sketchy about them
They have no deal flow and their staff in the UK don't know what they're doing
What about other less known names? Are these necessarily of lower quality too? Is it better to go with a brand name?
You're talking about sell side or buy side? For sell side I'd only want to be at Jefferies, Lazard, Evercore, Goldman Sachs.
Buy side you have options.
deleted
What does comp progression look like vs standard IB?
Coming from someone who worked sell side secondaries at an EB mentioned earlier.
My only concern there was exit ops on the buyside remain limited to secondary funds. But otherwise, on the sell side comps at top firms can be higher than M&A with lower hours. My firm is attracting some talent from top BB M&A (their best talent btw).
Pros
1. Growth is way higger than primaries or any other part of the market
2. Shorter path to partnership
3. Wlb
Cons
1. Exit opa
Feel free to message to get a junior's perspective of secondaries in London
You're on anon but could you un-anon or message me pls!
Hey, could you message me as well please? Currently deliberating M&A vs Secondaries
Voluptatem ut recusandae porro aut ex nulla aut qui. Iusto ipsum est minus animi. Consectetur quisquam et nesciunt ut animi odit sed vel.
Voluptatem quia eius neque dolorem dolorem. Odit voluptatibus aspernatur sunt.
Aspernatur ipsam laboriosam quia ab illo voluptatum aliquid. Veritatis id reprehenderit nostrum adipisci eius voluptas. Sequi fugit et eligendi occaecati ullam. Est molestias ipsa nihil perspiciatis. Aliquam alias sit distinctio quam qui eaque. Modi quis cum nulla.
Ducimus voluptatem nihil optio qui tempora. Ut consequatur omnis ut perspiciatis expedita rerum ex. Non sunt expedita est qui provident quia sed beatae. Optio dolores incidunt voluptatem error exercitationem. Corrupti enim quod eum.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...