PE Analyst Offer Compensation

Received a verbal offer from a boutique PE firm for FT in NYC. Soon to get a written offer with comp info. Firm has under $400 MM in AUM. Team is very lean. 2 Analysts who do the heavy lifting on the modeling and underwriting, and 2 high level MD's/ Partners who speak to clients and bring in new business as well.

There's a lot of info on this site for PE Associate comp, but couldn't find much on comp for PE analysts right out of undergrad. What should I be looking for in terms of overall compensation regarding salary, bonus ranges, and possible carried interest, etc..

8 Comments
 
Best Response

We don't hire straight out of undergrad but we generally pay salaries like MM IB's do for a pre-MBA hire but bonuses can be, and usually are, higher. And bonuses are far more variable and based on individual performance much more (and the fund-it's easier to give big bonuses when you've had a few good exits that year, even if the employee had little to do with those individual deals). No way you'll get carry though. But PE in general, especially when you leave the megafunds and the level right below those, is much more variable and highly dependent on the firm.

Are there really only 4 investment guys at a $400MM fund? PE runs lean but I've never heard of that lean, especially when one of the 4 (you, and I don't mean any offense by this) is going to be a fresh college grad with no FT experience?

 

Regarding the small size of the team, it's possible that OP was only referring to the investment team, since usually there's at least a secretary and some other support staff. Alternatively, it could be the PE arm of a family investment office, which cuts down on headcount a lot (fewer deals, don't need as much support staff or can share support staff,etc.)

But yes, 4 seems small, though you could read it as OP is joining as #5.

 

If you're coming straight out of undergrad I'd expect $50-80k base and 40-120% bonus depending on how you do and how well the fund is doing. Would not expect carry as an analyst straight out of undergrad :-)

Like the other guys have said, similar to MM IB.

there are also some good data on this in the WSO Company Database you may want to check out :-)

Good luck and congrats! Patrick

 

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