Moving from consulting to PE (London)

Hi everyone, I am a first year analyst/associate consultant in London at a T2 consulting firm (Strat&, EY-P, LEK, OW) and work at a firm which is renowned for doing a lot of DD focused work. I have often heard people talk about PE as an 'exit opp' for consultants, but when I look at the profiles of firm alumni or LinkedIn search PE associates, it almost always seems to be the case that the PE associates are former IB analysts. I would be very interested to hear people's insights into the actual frequency/feasbility of a PE transition from consulting (as a standalone, not compared to banking - we all know that IB lends itself to PE more). If anyone in PE/former consultants now in PE could give their take on how consultants can break into PE, I would be very grateful. Also, if there is anything specific I can do now as a first year analyst (such as take an accountancy exam, for example) to boost my ability to break into PE when the time inevitably comes, that would be hugely helpful. Thank you for your help in advance!

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I'm not sure what sort of size you've been looking at, but this kind of move is much more common at smaller funds (LMM and MM) than larger ones, so do keep that in mind.

From what I've seen, it's also more common in the FDD field than commercial due diligence types of roles. LMM and MM funds typically see a lot more opportunities than MFs, and so being able to screen a lot of them effectively in-house without needing to pay a lot helps.

In terms of advice, becoming a qualified accountant will be valuable, but it's usually the case that passing the exam is a necessary but not sufficient requirement to become qualified; you need the experience too. You should also try to identify the recruiters working on these types of funds to get a sense of which funds might be open to a consultant profile.

 

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