MF PC vs MF Special Sits

Regarding OP’s post, at a special sits shop you target returns in the mid-high teens, typically with the ability to invest up and down the cap stack, and you are typically industry agnostic. Many special sits firms do primarily private deals (rescue financing, convertible pref / participating pref with warrants, DIPs, NPLs) but have the ability to do publics as well (typically buying in/out of distressed 1L/2Ls). They also can do more niche deals like Apollo’s bond deal backed by Concord’s music rights. Diligence on deals like these takes longer and so you aren’t churning out deals every few weeks like in PC.

PC (which can cover a wide umbrella of strategies depending on which firm you’re at; I’ll narrow it to direct lending for the purpose of this post) at a MF like the ones you listed above is similar to PC at most shops. You target low-teens unlevered returns (and many PC shops are back levering these days). As a junior person, you’ll be placed on a new opp every few weeks and will have a CIM to go through, a model to run, and will help develop thoughts on leverage, covenants, etc. I’ve heard that PC groups are typically subdivided by industry, so junior people are typically not industry-agnostic. The process from receiving a CIM to going through IC to closing is much quicker than in SS deals, as PC deals are usually less hairy (and my friends who work in PC say they normally leverage past templates for models when new deals come in). Shops like HPS do deals with a bit more hair but at most PC firms, the process is pretty straightforward and hours can be more predictable than in SS as a result. Anecdotally, comp in special sits groups tends to be higher than comp in PC given the higher equity-like return profile.