What does the Private Equity environment of Dallas look like?
I am working in Dallas in asset management this summer, but I'm curious what the private equity scene of the city looks like. What are the largest firms in the city? What are the reputations of different firms, their work environments, etc.?
I'm not from Dallas and want to learn what firms are the most active in Dallas. I know it's a pretty broad question with little specifics, but I don't know enough about private equity to ask specifics. I appreciate the help!
Trive is the highest profile name in Dallas these days. ~$2Bn AUM now and apparently raising another big ($1Bn+) fund right now. Still pretty new but have raised and deployed capital very quickly. Have an aggressive reputation (will look at assets other firms won't touch, get creative with structures) and are very active operationally (there's a lot of Bain DNA with the firm). Have heard iffy things about culture and comp, but it's a solid name and probably the best place to be in Dallas.
Other firms of note:
Gauge - Like Trive they're growing very quickly, raising bigger funds, and deploying a ton of capital. Their strategy is quite different though, as they often go after higher quality deals in auction processes. Have heard that they grind and the Southlake location is a drag.
Kainos - HM spinout, focus on food / consumer, have done some very large / high profile deals with LP coinvest, went through a bit of a fiasco with a partner leaving which put their third fund on hold (was slated to be $1Bn+)
Centeroak - Brazos spinout. I always thought they were a bit sleepy but just raised a decent sized fund and are apparently looking to be active. Have heard mixed things about culture
Insight - Slowly dying. Trive, Prophet, Sky Island (among others) have spun out and there's not a lot left. Have heard they're trying to raise a new fund, so they could gain momentum. Culture seems friendly if a bit weird. Also in Southlake, which sucks if you're younger than 40.
Other which I know less about: Sky Island (Insight spinout), Prophet (Insight spinout), Crossplane (Prophet spinout), Satori (conscious capitalism inspired investing, ahve a weird/cool evergreen fund structure), Arctos (cool sports deals), Redbird (cool media and sports deals), CIC, Riverside (extremely sweaty), Align (Riverside spinout), Lone Star Funds / Hudson Advisors (very sketchy), Paceline (Lone Star spinout, also quite sketch), Highland (I think they were trying to do more traditional PE deals but no idea how that's going), Lantern (bought Harvey Weinstein's company), SunTX (don't know if they still exist), Renovo, and a whole bunch of family offices (Rosewood, Hunt, Perot, Bass, etc. etc.) and semi-defunct energy funds (NGP, Pearl, Tailwater, etc.). Beyond that there's a pretty healthy direct lending universe if that's something you might be interested in.
How is there not an "equities in Dallas" joke yet?
Because it's 2021 and not 1991.