Warburg Pincus Reputation Amongst Megafunds
Heading into the on-cycle PE recruiting process and wondering for those that have been in the industry for a while, how does Warburg Pincus stack up against megafunds such as Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, Carlyle on culture, pay, lifestyle and general reputation?
Overall, Warburg is a good shop. They are one of the few MFs to invest across company lifecycle out of the same fund.
It has a good reputation, perhaps slightly below the Apollo, BX, KKR, Carlyle tier. Lifestyle will be rough at any MF, but it will depend on which vertical you get placed in. Some are more rough than others
Wrong. Warburg reputation is absolutely top tier. IBS group is crazy good at Warburg, easily better than other similarly sized funds
Reputation is very good - comparable to all those funds you listed; though they are more lowkey out of (the PE) industry they have a very favorable historical reputation in-industry and are well known.
I think (am not 100% sure, based what I have been told by two from my banking group who went there) pay is second to Apollo in NY and higher than street by a bit.
They are fairly verticalized in the flagship fund - when you get an offer you are placed in the 'generalist' pool and then choose a group just before starting - this is different than some other firms which recruit on a group by group basis (i.e. Carlyle or KKR)
Culture I don't have a pulse on very well. They historically have been willing to write smaller checks and therefore spend time on more, smaller deals, which is almost always a bad thing for lifestyle since that means there are more projects to go around and more questions to be asked. I would assume they work about 60-70 hours a week in slow periods and 80+ if things are busy (i.e. either participating in an auction process, proprietary deal, selling portco, etc)
No idea what investment committee process is like, but would be curious if others know
Mostly off the mark.
Comp is known to be bottom of street (among MFs), there is an arrogance about being able to pay you more, but you should feel lucky enough to just have the seat.
Prestige is a notch below Apollo+Blackstone.
Investment-style, as someone had mentioned is stage agnostic.
Lifestyle varies from group to group, but can range from tolerable to inhumane.
Zero sourcing, no idea where that came from. Maybe they do that in SF or something. The "smaller checks" they write are in still $75-plus million.
Returns are very good. Pedigree is top notch. Placement to H/S for b-school very very good. And comp if you're on a partnertrack can be quite lucrative, as is the case for most large cap PE.
Key thing to keep in mind is that of the public PE MFs, they give away 40-60% of carry to public shareholders. So a $20bn fund at Blackstone creates the same wealth for the investment professionals as a $10bn fund at WP. WP doesn't raise huge headline funds however, they'll just raise a $12bn flagship fund in 3 year increments, rather than raising one $24bn fund every 6-8 years.
So prestige-wise where would you put it?
This whole emphasis on prestige when you're talking about these types of firms is really stupid. MFs are all prestigious.
What really matters is if you think you match well with the culture, like the investment mandate, upward mobility prospects, etc. Not prestige.
Long time lurker / new account and currently at a MF.
If on-cycle kicks off and you are lucky enough to have interview opportunities at WP, KKR, APO, TCG, BX, you’ll really need to pick 1-2, so now is a good time to figure out what type of investing you’re interested in. Given all of these names are top shops, you’re splitting hairs if you’re looking at prestige or associate comp.
Figure out if you’re interested in traditional buyout (KKR BX etc) or value investing (Oaktree APO etc) or growth oriented investments (WP etc) or some other strategy. Also figure out culture of the firm as this is the most important thing in the long run (how are the seniors, do they promote or 2 and out, etc). Think about industry as well - a number of these firms will hire specifically into verticals.
This forum places an unbelievable amount of emphasis on comp and prestige, which are both important but remember your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Making anywhere from $250-$400 as a 1st year puts you far ahead of almost any other career. If you want to sustain this relative level of income, don’t burn yourself out over marginal difference in comp or prestige.