PE Compensation in Italy
Interested to know a bit more on PE comp packages for Associate and VP roles in Italy, thanks in advance
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Are you currently in Italy? Was wondering if fluency in Italian is required.
From what I've heard it is required.
Sadly this is basically the truth. Incomes in Italy and Southern Europe are peanuts compared to London, whereas COL isn’t that different.
Looking at Numbeo, rent prices in Milan are significantly lower than in London but purchasing power is a lot lower in Milan. Any idea why that's the case? Milan seems like an expensive city without the salaries to match.
Seeing a lot of focus on Milan here and makes sense given it's status as practically French/Swiss... To add to the geographies covered - from experience working in Rome as a SA at a Big4, COL there is peanuts compared to London (where I grew up). Was spending €30-45/week on groceries and that was more than plentiful (could have got by spending probably €20-25 and been fine but it was Italy... very good fresh produce available for not very much so went ham). Rent was not too bad either from what I recall - c. €900/month (shared accommodation).
But this all needs to be balanced against Roman salaries which are less than those commanded in Milan (higher COL as everyone has mentioned). Not a place to make money (Partners at my firm were on €200k all-in)...
Also interested in this.
Can anyone reply with some insights ?
AFAIK a MF analyst in Milan signed for around 70K before tax + bonus, in line with what this MF offers in LDN. Taxes should be higher in Milan compared to London, but COL should be a bit lower, so all in all I'd say comp is in line with London.
Don't know for associates and higher ranks.
A bschool friend of mine worked at one of the better italian PE firm pre-mba. He ended up moving to a BB for the significantly higher comp. Outside of a very few select roles with international firms (and there aren't many), comp in southern europe is truly abyssal. The COL is lower, but in a city like Milan, nowhere near low enough to compensate for the much lower take-home pay. You add higher taxes and living there really doesn't allow for a better lifestyle. Not to mention that my personal experience with Milan is that it's one of the worst place for work life balance in finance / consulting.
Can you share your friend's figures?
I don't know the exact figure, but definitely not a 6 figures so probably something like 70-80K EUR as an associate.
Recently found this article published by PageGroup and BeBeez where they've interviewed most of the funds in Italy (https://bebeez.it/files/2020/10/Studio-di-Settore_Private-Equity.pdf). In summary:
i) Analyst/Senior analyst: 30-55k base + 20-30% bonus
ii) Associate: 45-75k + 40-50%
iii) Investment Manager: 70-120k + 50-80%
Obviously it depends on many factors, among which the AUM of the fund. For funds >500mln the bonus goes up to 100% for analysts/associates/managers according to this report.
What do you think? Are these figures accurate in ur opinion? Wouldn't it be best to work in London / Switzerland / France?
Thanks for sharing - does anyone have additional insights?
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