What should I do: FoF at major PE investor or FoF-Co-Invest-Secondary at smaller PE pension fund

Hi,

There are currently two (excellent) offers on the table. One at a large PE investor (team) where I will work in FoF (think: Harbourvest), and another one at a 3-5x smaller pension funds PE investor (still large: >5 bln AUM) where I will work on FoF-Co-Sec investments. Apart from some internships, I have no previous experience in IB and (in)direct PE.

I'm in doubt between these two i) as I might like to make the step towards direct investments in the future ii) as I am not sure whether I find FoF too qualitative or whether I find Co-invest too quantitative (I don't want to model all day, but I would like to model) iii) as I do not want to limit myself too much for possible future roles: where could I end up when I want to exit FoF? And is it potentially better to exit FoF at large investor, or to exit FoF-Co-Sec role at smaller investor?

Could you maybe provide me some advice? Thanks in advance.

6 Comments
 

I agree, but only to some extent. Sure, you won't likely end up at mega funds, but with your co-investing experience you could well end up at a MM PE firm. I have seen it happen multiple times. However, you should work at a $10b aum PE investor, with a good reputation to increase your chances.

 

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