Background
- Private Equity Infrastructure Funds, Secondaries and Co-investments
- Experience in Institutional Asset Management & Investment Research (Mutual funds)
- CFA Completed | European Financial Advisor Charterholder
- Excel financial modelling (VBA)
- Telecom & Financial Services
- Managerial experience & Strong project management | Trained off-shore teams
Happy to answer technical questions re:
- PE Infra and Buyouts (will do my best)
- CFA (stategies and market value)
- Managing people offshore & Project Management
- Financial Modelling
What kind of returns do you typically target?
There are 3 main IRRs we target (roughly)
Core / Core + 8-10% Value Added 10-15% Opportunistic 15% and above
Note that Opportunistic IRR and some traditional PE are targeting the same assets, which in turn is rising the valuations in those assets (overpriced now) and decreasing IRRs. (One of the biggest factors determining the IRR and MOIC is the entry price).
What are your thoughts on the CFA?
What motivated you to obtain the CFA?
Has it helped you in terms of networking or obtaining job interviews?
Any tips as I study for Level 2 with less than month to go?
Hi CFA was probably one of the best decisions I have made. I wish I have started studying earlier in my life. I do remember when I was just registering for level 1 (not even studying) that most buy side companies showed great deal of respect for your commitment. Sell side companies also financed it to support your training (also because it provides a sense of trust when clients see it on your research).
Once I became CFA Charterholder, recruiters were more open and keen to forward the CV. You can also join the CFA Society in your country - I could meet people from almost every single Fund Manager.
Before registering for CFA, I looked like +100 job descriptions in London for Investment Analyst positions (Equity Research, Pension Funds, Portfolio Management, Hedge Funds and even Private Equity) and discovered that it was very common. I decided to take a look at the real books and really like most of the content - especially Accounting, Valuation, CF and Equity, which is nearly 60% of the syllabous for L1 and L2. I liked the practical approach and how it was explained.
You need to like the content and make sure it fits the job and industry you are in. For the buyside it defo matters (Hedge Funds are asking almost everyone to do it, even people with M&A Exp in bulge bracket banks, and PE or Pension Funds are demanding it).
For your L2 prep with 1 month to go: + Focus on exams paper - do 1 half exam per day and revise it in the same day. + Revise only => Ethics + FRA + Equity + Fixed Income + Portfolio Management.
Also, I do recommend sitting a live mock - here in UK the CFA UK society organizes it.
Best of luck.
There are many possible options re FoF. 1. Some small FoF just invest in primaries, which can be good during 1-2 years to get your feet in PE and understand the industry. If you improve your modelling, you will have chances in small and middle market funds within Infra space.
When you start, tasks can be repetitive, it is up to you and the deal flow to gain access to more enjoyable and harder tasks. Of course, if your partners are not great deal makers or have difficulties sourcing deals, you may end doing nothing. So check in advance what's the deal flow and the size of the FoF.
No PE interaction at all is something weird, as even junior analyst where I worked attended the onside DD and deal with PE executives and CEOs during ref calls.
Maybe that institutional investor in particular is not the best option for LT but it could serve you as a step for a better FoF.
I would review the FoF in particular to understand the split btw Primaries (investing directly in Funds), Secondaries ( acquiring stakes) and co-investment.
Would recommend a FoF with a decent split of Primaries, Secondaries and Co-Investments, for your early days.
FoF have a series of pros and cons vs Direct PE investing, not the same type of jobs and the clients invest in a FoF for other reasons. Work life balance tends to be better at FoF although during co-inv is like Direct PE investing.
Hope it helps,