Updated Views on Roark Capital

Hey everyone, I just finished my sophomore year at a Southern semi-target (UNC/UVA/Georgia Tech, 3.9 GPA). My school is a target for Roark Capital and I've been talking with multiple people at the firm, all of whom I liked. I'm also currently recruiting for BB/EB SA opportunities, but was looking for updated industry views of Roark, given their recent activity, (acquisition of Dunkin, in the process of raising another $5B fund).

How does it stack up against BB/EB opportunities for junior summer, and if I end up in Atlanta SA/FT, would I be able to recruit for larger funds or should I re-recruit for banking?

22 Comments
 

Was in a similar position last year, but went with BB/EB SA. I had two reservations: location (preferred NYC over ATL) and industry focus (wasn't all-in on restaurants/consumer). If you don't mind the location and know you want to do consumer PE, Roark is arguably better than any other banking option. Chances to re-recruit for MFs are probably slim, but they're slim regardless of anywhere you go. Not that many funds out there larger than Roark anyways. 

 
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Echoing the above, great fund, has grown very quickly and become dominant in the franchise/consumer retail space. Folks are all sharp and they work hard, but not quite as crazy as the NYC megafunds. Great place to work, but I think the poster above makes a good point about being pigeonholed into a specific category. It's unlikely they'll ever expand into anything different and categorically, franchise/consumer retail is an industry in decline. Will that really impact Roark in the next decade or two? Probably not, but if you're really future looking and you're in the middle of your college career, I don't think it hurts to give that some thought. I'd be curious to hear Roark's take on that to be honest. I'm sure they'll given it a lot of thought and if they're the dominant player in the space and can realize synergies across all of their platforms, they're likely to continue to be successful, but as far as the skills you're looking to gain in order to be transferrable to future banking/investing, just something to think about.

With all that being said, if you could star there out of college, it's not a bad place to start. It's a toss up between that and a good banking group, you can't really go wrong.

 

I honestly wouldn't worry until you get the job @ roark, BB/EB and start comparing. I think it will be likely splitting hairs @ that point if your goal is to do PE. However, if you're looking @ MF then I think you will have a better shot @ BB/EB. Keep in mind most people don't actually make it into PE, so you need to consider the fact that a bird in hand is worth more than 2 in the bush.

 

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