I've seen a lot on WSO about people working in IBD at places like GS/MS/JPM posting on here looking to move to MF PE but I haven't seen much about the MM recruiting. Surely there are certain MM funds which are equally as attractive to work at as the MFs, which brings me to my question - who are the major/top MM PE funds?
Trending Content - Private Equity Forum
| +135 | What’s “the path” now? | 55 | 26m |
| +83 | Is Everyone Too Bearish on PE? | 24 | 24m |
| +48 | Why would anyone do PE in long term in 2026? | 12 | 1d |
| +37 | 3rd Year IB Analyst, Top Bucket, Still No PE Offer. What Would You Do? | 19 | 4h |
| +25 | Is This Normal in LLM PE | 10 | 3d |
| +24 | Q&A: What It’s Actually Like Working at an Independent (Fundless) Sponsor | 4 | 1d |
| +21 | UMM PE or High Paying Strat Finance? | 7 | 22h |
| +21 | Striking out in last rounds | 2 | 2d |
| +20 | On Cycle Preparation | 8 | 1d |
| +16 | Would you use a centralized sponsor research page before meetings? | 6 | 5d |
Career Resources
There are a ton of great upper MM shops, but the ones that immediately come to mind are:
Again, I'm probably leaving a few out, but these are the major ones that seem to pop up most frequently.
These are not so much MM as they are pure PE non platforms
Gold Gate manages >$15B. I don't think many people would consider that MM
Agree - many of these not true "MM"
H&f's last three funds were 8 9 and 10bn. KKR's last fund is 13bn Silver Lake was also 10bn.
In what world are h&f and Silver Lake "middle market?" They all bid on the same companies.
Leonard Green was 10bn too CD-R 7 I think.
Excellere and Harvest Partners were both able to raise their carry to >25% on their last funds. I'd qualify the ability to do better than 2/20 as top MM funds.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/top-performing-buyou…
The definition of middle market is a bit nebulous in PE, whereas in banking it's pretty well defined. Depends how you define AUM (total active funds vs total funds), etc. I saw a thread where this was debated..but on mobile so can't find it
Is it AUM or (perhaps) on the basis of investments/portfolio companies?
Would also mention funds like: Advent, Apax Partners, BC Partners, Court Square, Genstar, New Mountain, Thoma Bravo, Vista
Sterling (et al)
This is a pretty dumb question because there are so many good non-MF funds and so many ways to answer this. What do you mean by top? Biggest MM fund? Best performance? Best compensation? Best hours? Best quality of life? Most prestige? Best exit opps to business school? Best opportunity to get promoted directly?
Advent??? Their last fund was as big as KKRs and 2x Bain's and 1bn bigger than Warburg. Granted both Advent and WP look at mm deals a lot.
What in the world is going on in this thread
Since people are giving a lot of examples of MM PE, let me tell you what is NOT MM PE.
Guys like Advent, H&F, CVC, Silver Lake, First Reserve are NOT MM. I don't understand why people think this - just because they are not your "traditional megafunds" like KKR/BX/Carlyle/Apollo/Warburg/Bain? "Middle Market" is NOT a catch-all term for anything that isn't one of those 6 buyout shops. Call them megafunds, pseudo-megafunds, specialized megafunds, foreign megafunds or whatever you want, but they are not considered MM by the majority of people in the field.
MM typically means MM buyout, which also means even guys like GA and Summit don't fall into the traditional MM categorization either.
Riverside
Let's just settle on a fund size number under 1B. Once you get over a billion dollar raise you get to the point where fundraising is now tied more to brand recognition than pure performance.
L Catterton
Quia ratione qui porro consectetur qui dolorem eligendi. Fugiat incidunt impedit et sit fuga nam deleniti. Asperiores quod non ut distinctio voluptatem. Alias reiciendis ut assumenda at debitis nobis. Quis est voluptatem odio omnis non omnis. Et est earum aut laborum et consequuntur.
Debitis explicabo in est qui error dignissimos sapiente reprehenderit. Ratione omnis qui voluptatum delectus. Molestiae officiis sint sit reprehenderit. Quia quam sunt magnam sunt adipisci ducimus saepe. Quae illo et eveniet impedit autem.
Veniam voluptatem dolor consequatur provident et velit. Expedita distinctio adipisci consequatur aperiam vero. Itaque atque velit quod debitis tempore quia sequi. Quo optio minus rerum nam reiciendis vel ut. Fuga quaerat quia quos nam veniam impedit.
Omnis nihil aliquid aliquam modi sit sapiente. In illum iure ipsam culpa suscipit. Quaerat magnam et porro impedit et. Quo quisquam nostrum iste ut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...