Path to Infrastructure PE?
Hey guys, I'll be interning at a Big 4 in their Infrastructure advisory group this summer. So far I've been networking with people in areas I find interesting (project finance, P3, and transportation projects). I graduate this December and wanted to know if this path could lead to Infra PE? For example, can I use the experience from this summer to apply to a FT role at a PE fund? Or would I have to work at the Big 4 for 2-3 years before trying to move to a PE fund? If neither of these options seem feasible I'm open to others.
Assuming you get extensive modeling experience, you have a shot with MM infra PE. Definitely not with UMM or MF infra PE as they like more traditional IB candidates.
Infra PE is very model heavy, so my answer will depend on that. I would diligence the modelling development in your group by asking yourself these questions:
1) looking at your seniors/VPs, can they model? is there a clear "this team is model heavy" notion in your group? if not, MM PE doesn't have the time to teach you how to model, and would pivot to a bank depending on your answers to the below questions.
2) how does big 4 advisory support a transaction? do they provide valuation or run numbers? if yes, then that's a better modelling experience, but generally PE can do that themselves, but in a strategics case, they'll likely hire a bank before going to Big 4. If its just diligence, then that's not enough frankly and would pivot to a bank ASAP.
3) what type of deals normally? I used to work on P3s in the bank and we would generally support canadian construction consortiums bidding government deals. P3s are by far the most challenging models I have ever seen, so if you can go into the model and build it from scratch again (which is what I did at the bank before I ever got to model a real deal), you can get really good at modelling and use that in your PE interviews to have a shot, but to the above commenter, you're limited to MM PE.
My punchline is, you have expressed interest in infrastructure, that's enough to get into the door for project finance groups at banks. You should be going that route if you want to be in PE. If not and you have to stick with it for FT, use the opportunity to source good and complicated models which you can build from scratch and learn to model that way, and you may have a shot at MM PE.
source: work in infra UMM PE
I did the developer to infra MM PE path, no IB. Would an UMM infra shop look at my profile for a senior associate role?
Going to be tougher in this slower market but not impossible, infra PE is a somewhat small/niche ecosystem so they tend to be a bit more flexible on background
Curious about this; just did something quite similar myself. Did you major in finance?
definitely possible I would say, especially if you model construction/development deals which are infinitely more complex than a standard operating asset.
Hey - Can I PM you? I'm considering the developer to infra PE route. Would love to pick your brain.
Hey, can I shoot you a message. Id love to pick your brain and learn about your career journey from Infra P3 banking in Canada to Infra PE in the US.
I work in corp dev at a utility so not quite infra PE but about as close as you can get.
I think you’d want IB/CD experience first. IB for obvious reasons. Now CD may not be as obvious but you can get very useful experience that translates very well. You would need to work in CD at a larger business and target non-MF funds but it is very doable.
This isn’t to say that you couldn’t come from your role and go straight into infra PE. Just that IB and then CD would be easier. It would be very difficult to go straight from your current internship into infra pe ft right after school
Not likely. I would try to get out of the Big 4 (FT IB is gonna be tough this year, but you can lateral after 1 year) and move to P&U or Infra IB.
As mentioned above infra is a VERY model heavy area and I don't think you will get that kind of experience in your current role, so need some IB time
If you're targeting to join a household name (e.g., Brookfield, GIP, Blackstone, Stonepeak, etc.), going down the investment banking route is your best bet -- ideally in a PU&I group but I have also seen a handful of bankers in energy groups that made the move as well. These firms run structured recruiting processes and participate in on-cycle recruiting, just like generalist PE funds, which means they typically look for candidates with conventional backgrounds (e.g., 2 years of investment banking experience, good undergrad and GPA, etc.).
However, I have seen outliers that come from pensions (ones that are particularly strong in infrastructure with direct investment platforms like CPPIB, GIC), developers (especially for funds that have a strong focus on asset acquisitions or require expertise in specific fields like tax equity -- funds that come to mind are Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners or Ares), and project finance groups at a bank (would recommend you join one of the American BBs over the French / Japanese).
I think similar story for MM funds but they are probably a bit more lenient in terms of the candidate's background.
why choose US over French / Japanese? Wouldn’t they be stronger in the PF field?
what is the perception of the larger pensions that do direct investing? I come from a non-traditional background and have thought about infra PE but am reconsidering towards something like the pensions.
I was in infra advisory and built a lot of P3 models. The group somehow stopped functioning and a bunch of people got laid off, including myself.
Now I work with a bunch of healthcare and semiconductor/chip companies. Model wise it's definitely easier. Once you complete 1-2 infra models, even as a pair/with other co-workers, your modeling capability is at a different level.
However, another critical part is industry knowledge. In both healthcare and semiconductor, there's tons of industry knowledge to learn. Maybe not complicated, very intricate stuff. What's critical for PE is industry knowledge, execution experience, modeling, business sense, deal judgement, and potential connections if you have any (sourcing deals).
For P3, it's pretty stable cash flows, so your focus is largely on credit profiles and what the final cash flows are for an asset. I got minimal exposure to investment strategy, industry landscape, etc. because assets could (not necessarily) get pretty generic when you are looking at 3 toll roads, even in different countries, and I'm talking about LatAm and US.
What type of work does Big 4 do for infra projects if they don’t model?
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