Rise of consultants in PE?

Recently observed a trend that more and more postings/hirings in the PE space go out to consultants (mainly MBB). For the top funds, the hiring hasn't changed much (e.g., the Baincaps, Permiras, Advents who hire Consultants vs. the BXs, KKRs, Apollos who still mostly don't), but I observed the trends that a lot of MM started to open themselves up for consulting backgrounds. 

I also observed that at my fund at wonder if there is really a shift in PE from "financial engineering" to more hands-on/operator mindset/toolkit. 

How do you see that?

2 Comments
 

For those interested in PE Ops / portco work, it does seem like the gatekeeping is now at the MBB level and other consultants aren't being considered as often. Follow a headhunter in that space on LI and she admitted that this is a trend she's seeing from her clients lately. Her post was pushing back on the notion of requiring MBB

Unfortunate for non-MBB consultants (like myself).

 

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