Red Flag PE Firms In LA
Title. Currently in NYC and am looking to move to the west coast for personal reasons. Will probably be looking to jump to a different firm, and just wanted to get peoples' consensus on what some red flag PE firms in LA are, if any, since I refuse to believe all funds there are amazing.
Biggest flag for me is below average comp, followed closely by terrible culture, then sweatshops, and then generally crap work. Anything else goes as well. If anyone knows any firms that fit the above, would really appreciate some insights, as well as some up to date comp figures (analyst, associate, sr associate or vp) bc what's bad for you might not be for me.
Bump
Bump, also rlly interested in this
Bumpity, on that note, any insights on K1? Was told by a recruiter that they were a great place to work, but obviously want to sense check that
Bump on this as well
k1 is a joke of a firm that pays well below market and has horrible culture. would avoid
Heard their base was 85k can anyone confirm? Also on Glassdoor etc why is the comp listed so high for them?
Could you elaborate on the pay?
Brentwood. Terrible performance stay away.
Elaborate? Also any insights on comp?
Latest fund is like a quarter of their prior fund, all you need to really know
Please elaborate on comp and culture. Thanks.
Bump
Ares, Clearlake, Marlin — on their deathbed, stay away
Platinum — sweatshop, dirty PE, low comp
Aurora — solid MM shop
LGP — used to retail focused, not sure how they’ve done since diversifying out of retail
Already asked by someone above, but what about K1? Anyone got any insights? Have gotten a ton of outreach from their recruiters recently
Absolutely, fucking, horrible.
Ares on its deathbed? Is this ACOF?
Yes, probably ACOF. I don't think its necessarily on its death-bed but performance has been very poor and if their latest fund doesn't do well (which its slightly too early to tell but seems mediocre) hard to see much of a path upwards for any juniors + would lead to a pretty bad learning enviornment.
ASOF or their other credit stuff I'm sure are pretty good/fine
LGP has done well. They diversified out of retail look at the recent exit of SRS. Very good firm culturally and performance wise - probably the best you can get in LA but makes that difficult to join
Pacific Avenue?
It’s an okay purchase, but Park Place actually spins off more rent income dollar for dollar. It’s also a two property set vs Pacific is a 3 property set. So easier to clip that premium whole set rent.
I have heard very positive things about this company, specifically related to their returns. Going from $0 in AUM a few years ago to $3.8BN+ (today), must mean something...
K1 is consistently the leader for number of inbound resumes I get, and my firm isn't even on the West Coast. It's a horribly toxic environment. Model is very churn and burn... they hire a million kids out of SDSU, UC Irvine, etc. (i.e. people who weren't going to sniff PE otherwise), pay them $60k, work them to death and move on from 95%.
I was told it was 85k now, and in your experience, do they exit well into other PE firms? Given that you've had inbounds, assuming some people did make it into yours?
None of the ones I talked to were very good, but caveat that it's 1) a ~5 person sample size, and 2) I don't find most PE analysts I talk to generally, including the ones at my shop, to be that sharp relative to their banking peers (but that's a broader conversation)
That said, if you're quibbling about $60k versus $85k in one of the country's most expensive metros in the two thousand and twenty-sixth year of our Lord, you've already lost the plot.
Any insight on butterfly?
Smart guys and own some big names. They've had some pretty high profile acquisitions recently and apparently just closed a $500mm CV judging by their press releases. Looks like performance is pretty good, but I don't know recent marks. Most of the senior team is ex-KKR so they absolutely would work you hard. I'd work there, you don't find that experience in many places....
know some people here - they’re sharp, really good backgrounds. can’t speak to the culture
.
how is gemspring or shamrock?
how’s freeman spogli? monogram? kingswood?
Freeman Spogli on the zombie fund list recently published by forbes
I'd take that Forbes piece with a grain of salt. It even says FSEP has raised $1.2B versus their $1.8B 2018 fund. Not an ideal fundraise but far from a zombie firm.
The internet shits on clearlake all the time but they're still raising $14bn fund...
I mean the internet shits on K1, but they've got a $20 bn or something fund...
Found the K1 analyst
The internet will simultaneously say AKKR is on its deathbed and glaze it as one of the best tech PE shops ever. You’ll only get real answers from people who work at these funds, or better yet, former employees.
What? No one says AKKR on deathbed.
Clearlake terrible investors and bad guys — anyone that’s spent more than 3 days on the job knows that.
Who knows who’s giving CL jokers more money. Whosever it is, they deserve to lose it all, which they undoubtedly will.
Not just the internet. It's the laughing stock of the distressed world.
So then how are they able to raise a $14bn fund?
Any updated thoughts on MMs like Shamrock, Butterfly, Lightbay, Kingswood and Marlin?
Will say I’ve heard K1 sucks in multiple of your red flag criteria, I’ve never verified it firsthand though…
Has anyone heard of Saybrook Fund Advisors? If so, what's the word on them?
Looks like they use a PE strategy for distressed munis. Team looks lean, but folks there seem very smart.
Not sure what HH they use and what the culture, comp, and upward mobility / exits from there would be like, so would appreciate any insights.
LLCP has a toxic culture from the top down
Any thoughts on lone view, the golden gate spin-out?
Any insights on Monogram?
Any insight on Curewell?
Heard really negative things about culture at Lone View, which checks out given they are a Golden Gate spin-out. Also think a lot of their portco's are underwater, similar as most tech funds. However, unlike other larger tech-specalists fund, they have less of a track record to go off given it's a first-time fund.
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