PE / HF in Chicago
What are the top 5 private equity firms and hedge funds in Chicago? And how do you get there from NY?
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Madison Dearborn and GTCR are the only two big funds (they are the only two in PEI 300's top 100).
Others: Wind Point, Water Street, Waud, Flexpoint Ford, Thoma Bravo. There are lots of other smaller MM funds.
Not sure how to get there from NYC. If you're in banking, I would just do the normal recruiting process with headhunters and specify you want to be in Chicago.
If you're already on the buy-side, I would reach out to headhunters to see if any of the firms are looking. Or go to Kellogg or Booth and then recruit into one of the funds.
Chicago is not a great city for finance unless you are in trading. For a city of its size, its presence in buyside is quite weak. But as the poster above wrote, GTCR and madison dearborn are the big dogs in chicago PE. They recruit from BB groups in both chicago and NYC. I know a guy who did merrill in NYC and did madison, a guy who did JPM in NYC and did GTCR and another who did citi in NYC and GTCR. My guess is they all went through the traditional big PE recruiters. If you're at a solid BB, you should be able to have a good shot there. And those 2 firms have awesome b-school placement. All of their associates end up at hbs/stanford/wharton.
As far as hedge funds is concerned, citadel is the giant gorilla in the room. You also have alyeska and magnetar, which were founded by ex-citadel folks. But aside from those Chicago is quite weak in hedge funds.
Thanks. I appreciate it. This helps a lot.
Best PE firms in Chicago? (Originally Posted: 12/04/2006)
Is Madison Dearborn the top PE firm in Chicago? What are the other top PE firms located in Chicago?
Code Hennessey
I liked working with them on a Deal. I couldn't tell how many hours their A&As were working.
Westcoasting, thanks for the info.
Do you know if the good PE firms ever hire lawyers (who go get an MBA) that have patent backgrounds but no work experience in corporate law or I-banking?
aren't there only "big" and "small" PE funds? How is one "better" than the other? Is it pay or track records?
Generally, it seems like PE entry is at the post-analyst, pre-MBA level or the VP+ level / lateral from industry.
Atleast at the big firms. I only have experience beginning the PE recruiting process from the analyst level. Sorry.
What have you heard?
GTCR
Wouldn't mind some thoughts on the following:
Wynnchurch Wind Point Lake Capital Willis Stein CIVC Partners
as well as more on GTCR, Thoma Cressey, Code Henessy
HF in Chicago?? (Originally Posted: 08/07/2013)
Fellow Monkeys!
I have a question for those of you in the AM/HF industry. Have any of you heard of Sheffield Asset Management? From what I have gathered online, it is a ~$750MM AUM firm in Chicago with a small collection of accounts. Focuses on L/S Equity and some FI and mostly on distressed companies (Self-proclaimed Deep value, contrarian investors).
I have been contacted about preliminary interview steps and wanted your opinions on this firm. It has been difficult to find much information on them, but I was able to find reasonable info about their MP's. Seems like a solid place, but want some reassurance.
Thoughts?
I know one of the guys who works there. Pretty nice dude. Value shop, IIRC.
Not sure what kind of reputation they have given their size, but at a minimum it'll get your foot in the door.
I think position has been open for a while so fit must be important.
Thats really great to hear. And thanks for the response. I was actually going to PM you because of your responses on some other threads.
My main concern arose when they asked me to take the WSAT, which got massively flamed here.
Have you been contacted directly by the firm or was it just a follow up (automated) email asking you to take the WSAT?
At first glance, it looked to be directly from them. After looking at the email more carefully, it was sent from "Street of Walls"
Shit.
Every time I get one of those emails I seriously question the legitimacy of WSAT. Everyone I know who took it didn't end up getting interviews despite high scores. Judging by how they promoted their business here through multiple fake accounts, I would be very skeptical about the credibility of the test and organization as a whole.
WSAT is a scam. They basically whore themselves out on linkedin, sending e-mail that give off the impression that they're from the firm itself.
From everything I have been able to gather, the HF is the real deal. However, the more I find out about this WSAT, the more it puts me off. Not sure how to proceed. On one hand, taking the test won't hurt me. On the other hand, it seems it is just a big waste of time.
I did well on wsat, was asked to complete a fit test a few weeks ago then got a ding email last week. I also know a Citadel guy who was dinged. Must be the fit test we both fucked up on. Not sure exactly what these guys are looking for
Exact same as user above when I was looking. The second email comes from Sheffield's HR.
The one annoying thing is that it took them about a month between every preliminary step which is a pain. This stuff really shouldn't take more than a week each time. And as above user also pointed out... they've been looking for a long time now. I think I applied in... May?
It seems like a great shop though.
I've seen a lot of job postings from Sheffield, which is odd in and of itself. I mean I see openings advertised there every few days, and I assume it is not a massive organization due to the AUM. Is all the job board spam just from the WSAT people?
I think it's just one opening being re-posted a lot.
Just PM you with more than 300 Funds in Chicago + fund manager + phone+ Strat + etc
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