Why do some PE firms have so many more associates?
Why do some PE firms have so many more associates? For example CD&R with 20+ vs. Carlyle and BX that might only have 5-10 in PE per year. They all have massive fund sizes.
Why do some PE firms have so many more associates? For example CD&R with 20+ vs. Carlyle and BX that might only have 5-10 in PE per year. They all have massive fund sizes.
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The same reason Goldman has 1,000s of analysts and MS has 2
Bit of a moot point though since anyone dumb enough to believe BX only has 10 PE associates won't get an offer from any of these firms.
Lol BX BCP does not have a +10 associate class size
Think
Carlyle and BX each have WAY more than 10 associates... multiple that by a few times.. some firms do run leaner, or use analysts, but they all have roughly similar junior numbers. They don't have MDs out there running the models. I think your numbers are just so far off that the question is moot.
Big miss on the critical thinking skills there buddy
Lots of judgments here!! OP meant how is it possible for those 10 associate to mange the day-to-day work; he is not saying that 10 associates are managing it. I think he is expecting answers like (XXX work is outsourced to XXX firms) or associates working for the parent company aren’t the once managing the funds; funds managed by a subsidiary called XXX.
It’s not possible
It's not possible. You don't see 2 firms doing similar amounts of work and one has 20 ASOs and the other has 5 ASOs. PE is not somewhere that uses outsourcing in any way, maybe you could say the truly large firms have better technology, back-office support, and some economies of scale but that isn't making the difference really.
OP's question is flawed because all firms have a fairly similar number of ASOs per capita - per deals done, per AUM etc. Any differences are due to things not making firms exactly apples to apples - firms running more/less complex deals, more/less hands-on with portcos, or they have analysts and not just ASOs.
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