What are some leading PE FoF names?

Hi guys,

I am very interested in PE FoF jobs to join as associate level and was wondering what are some of the top names in the field.

Some of the names I heard/researched are Lexington Partners, Ardian, Pantheon Ventures, Hamilton Lane, StepStone, HarbourVest, Partners Group, AlpInvest..

If someone familiar with PE FoF industry could rank top 3~4 players from above list (or others if I missed) that would be much appreciated. What would be the most important factor when deciding between multiple offers? AUM? Lastly, does comp vary significantly across different firms?

 
 
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I previously worked at one of these big names listed before moving on. It’s really tough to give an apples to apples comparison as most are all really starting to balloon in terms of assets, and all invest in similar areas (Fund Investing, Co-invest, secondaries, some form if more direct credit investing/lending, etc.). Within the industry all are well respected, especially the likes of Partners, HadbourVest, HL, Ardian. At some places like HL, since they are such a large platform, there is a large emphasis on data in everything they do from investing to other product lines (like a few others they have a quantitative focused team due to all the data they capture). At the end of the day, because these are such big shops, I would focus more on the specific investment team you’d be joining. It’s not talked about enough, but recent grads should give firms like these more of a look if you’re interested in finance but don’t necessarily want to go the IB route. The hours can still be bad at times and the pay is a step below IB at most firms, but I’ve seen plenty of people from (mainly co-invest, secondary, but still a few stellar people from the FoF or even quant side) move on to buyside roles at GE, credit shops, other co-invest/secondary shops or even LMM PE GPs. The Blackstones/TPGs of the world are likely out of reach but plenty of other places to make a great living while not killing yourself.

 

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