Special Situations Teams in London
I wanted to ask what does the work-life balance look like in the Special Situation Teams of the big names in London (Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, Carlyle...)
Do they really have a better WLB than traditional LBO PE? Have gone through interviews and the different funds tend to highlight their better WLB, but I can also understand its part of their marketing to attract candidates
Any help here would be much appreciated
Special situations is a really broad term, with various strategies, so it really depends deal by deal / fund by fund. I’d say that yes, as rule of thumb SS WLF is better than PE, but every place is different and every deal is different
Any insights on Blackstone TacOpps and Apollo Principal Finance?
Also interested in HHs covering the space
Also interested in Apollo’s teams in London and the recruitment processes
there’s a great summary post about this: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/hedge-fund/breaking-down-distress…
I would agree with what’s been said about the landscape and covering your questions at the end.
From my perspective the funds that can do special sits (with or without distressed) with a purely PE style vehicle are as follows:
Apollo Hybrid Value: have done a mix of distressed/structured equity deals in line with the Apollo strategy (i.e. on the value end of the spectrum). While they pay well, hours / culture are quite bad.
BX TacOps: used to be a mix of everything that didn’t fit in other vehicles, now more targeting assets where equity returns are mid teens (i.e. music royalties, pharma royalties, FIG, telco) given the risk profile. GSO / BX credit used to have mezz funds but I understand that they stopped that and now focus on vanilla DL.
KKR Strategic Investment Group: they have a special sits fund that sits under the credit umbrella. Historically returns have been bad, unsure how’s performance right now much usually had a credit lens and you sit in the credit group that also does vanilla DL. They have done some interesting Prefs/Converts notably (PureGym, Box, Wella, etc.). Interestingly KKR has the flexibility to do things and hold things on their balance sheet.
Brookfield special investments: trying to copy BX TacOps with their new fund, just did a big music royalty deal / fund.
Ares ACOF: just hired a team led by ex-Hybrid value guys (Partner & principal) and a couple of juniors, unsure of what it will look like but I’d expect something similar to what they used to do at Apollo.
Oaktree Opportunities: probably the OG special sits fund in Europe, do a mix of RE and traditional corporate special sits.
GIC ISG: can do creative things in non-sponsored, non distressed situations to do double digit deals with large tickets (i.e. Grifols, Cheplapharm, Dun&Bradstreet).
Atlantic Park: just seen them on Cheplapharm with GIC ISG.
Strategic Value Partners: more of a distressed only PE/HF vehicle but thought was worth mentioning given that some of their guys are ex-PE.
HPS: they have a mezz fund and own equity/structured equity in quite a few FIG deals but you sit in the broader credit team (in Europe at least) so you aren’t just doing special sits as far as I know.
Carlyle’s true special sits fund had poor returns and shut down, their credit fund now is more direct lending focused, one of the partners went to Permira Cedit to start a new fund for them so might be worth looking into (not sure how they will structure it).
Arcmont Special Sits: Probably more credit oriented, have a weird portfolio from what I know, also do pull to par trades in there.
Bain Credit Special Sits: known to be a rough shop with a bad culture, did deals such as Gails.
ICG: various funds that do mix of distressed, minority/structured equity, don’t know more than that.
Triton distressed fund: small ish fund doing a mix of distressed and pull to par trades, more credit oriented than the others.
Tikehau: has a special sits fund, pretty small I believe and not sure what they do but I think it’s under the debt side of the house.
Surely missing more that I cannot thing of right now but this should cover most of the big guys with bn+ funds than can do 100m+ tickets. Might come back to this.
On your W/L balance & comp question, this will be shop dependant but generally you’re probably working +/- the same as the PE side and getting paid +/- the same too. Reason is: i) while you might not be bidding for assets, you might be doing deals without sponsors anyways leading to dealing with unsophisticated parties and sometimes without a full banker run DD process, ii) funds are relatively similar to PE in terms of size / terms (read fees), while returns might be a bit lower that only influences carry and even then some of these funds deploy AUM faster than PE and iii) most seniors from these funds come from PE or special sits distressed which are usually sweaty.
Very helpful stuff, even generally. I presume you work/worked at one of these. What was your background prior to moving? Were you in Lev Fin or squarely in an RX only seat? Thank you!
I’m in the space indeed, came from a BB after a couple of years. Don’t think you see many levfin guys in these seats if I am being honest as these are more equity like than LevFin. You see more of a mix from M&A/RX. But again it depends on the shop and where their mind is at (i.e. more equity or debt) and what the seniors like in backgrounds / what is their own background.
great content as always. SB’d
If wanting to recruit for these funds (in London), is it better to do a top RX gig before or is GS/MS/JP the way to go? I’m asking since for example PJT RSSG isn’t in the UK what it is in the US..
A good rx shop will set you up better than M&A for ss / distressed funds.
PJTs RSSG team is the best RX advisor in EMEA just as in US - work on all the high profile deals
the m&a franchise is the one which is still growing and not up to par with the US
Following
Tempore quasi et est quia. Praesentium rem qui saepe et atque.
Dignissimos tempora aperiam reiciendis est aspernatur ab. Id cupiditate eum hic repellendus qui sed odio.
Quis dolore nemo tempora et. Est sed optio voluptas et velit ipsa.
Culpa voluptas a velit ipsa. Unde fuga velit magnam hic consequatur cumque. Ea optio error est repudiandae. Voluptas eos cum aut velit architecto et nesciunt. Qui totam maxime molestias quibusdam dignissimos est. Dolorum beatae modi est maxime voluptatem.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...