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There are a lot of good MM PE shops; you have to be more specific.
hmm yeah you're right. How about those around the same size as Cerberus, Silver Lake, 3G? Or even smaller than them, focused more on LBOs
Or "even smaller" than Silver Lake? Silver Lake and Cerberus are incredibly well known and both have undergrad programs that take top kids from Harvard and Wharton. I would avoid the top 50 or top 100 funds listed on wikipedia which have pretty structured 2 year banking/MBB recruiting programs and look to more local funds (maybe $1billion+ in capital
Can you just give me an example? I know a couple around my area - Colony Capital, Canyon Equities but I'm looking to expand.
And if I go to a target (not HYP or Wharton) is it possible to get an undergrad PE internship? Just came out of a boutique IBB in real estate
Cerberus's last target was like 4bn if I recall so I'll try to name a few around that size or bigger. These names come to mind but it is by no means exhaustive:
Vista (tech focused) Riverstone (energy) H&F (although they probably qualify as extremely well known, not sure of your familiarity level though) Thoma Bravo (tech focused) American Securities Centerbridge Crestview WCAS Berkshire CD&R Stonepoint (FIG focused) New Mountain Providence GTCR Platinum Lindsay Goldberg Leonard Green
And even these are quite well known.
The truth of the matter is most PE shops are smaller than you would think even if they have a lot of capital to work with. The reason that most people know the big names is they hire on a regular basis as opposed to only when absolutely needed. Everyone does essentially the same thing in PE, invest to their predetermined fund structure; but they all have difference hurdle rates, investment focuses, hold periods, etc. If you meet anyone that works in PE take their card no matter what the name of the shop is, you'd be amazed out there some of the firms killing it and you have never heard of them.
There are too many to list but there are good resources out there to find them. Just google different variations of PE with city names and other descriptors and you'll come across lists, individual websites, news articles, etc. There's probably a list on Wikipedia even. Outside of the four you listed above there are some giant ones with over $10B under management you you've probably never heard of. But everyone who's trying to get into PE knows them.
this is a weird question - the prestigious ones are by definition the big names. it's like asking which classic IBD groups at GS are good other than industrials, TMT, healthcare, PSI, CRG, FIG, sponsors, NR, and RE (hint: there are no other groups).
The funds below the MFs are even harder to get into as an undergrad. There is a 0% probability that you "network" your way into any of these funds. Less associate/analysts spots + less robust recruiting mechanism = focused almost exclusively on bringing in kids post banking. The ones that do have analyst programs (SL, Ares, LG) recruit almost exclusively out of H and W.
Your best bet would be a MF that has a summer analyst program. There have definitely been kids from Other Ivies/Chicago/NU/Duke/Georgetown/Notre Dame at some of them.
Wouldn't less spots with less structured recruiting practices actually increase your chances of getting in from networking, given that they don't have a talent pipeline in place?
They do have a talent pipeline in place, 1st year banking analysts. No need to screen hundreds or thousands of resumes when headhunters can select 50 top performing banking analysts for you. For the UMM/MM funds that do have undergrad programs, why bother going beyond Harvard and Wharton? You can be pretty sure you'll find 1-2 stars between the interested applicant pools at both schools.
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