Why is Berkshire Partners so prestigious?

Looking at UMM/MM funds, Berkshire partners seems like a pretty run of the mill UMM (comparable to a place like THL, smaller fund size vs some others like FP/Genstar/TA/etc, returns apparently underwhelming). Why is it considered so prestigious? Looking at exits, basically every singe past employee on LinkedIn is either at HBS, at a top hedge fund (saw a few Viking, Coatue, etc), or at a MF (saw Bain, Advent, TPG). At any other UMM you see most past employees at random MMPE firms but that just doesn’t seem to be the case at Berkshire. So what does Berkshire have going for it vs other funds with comparable fund sizes / better returns?

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Also think from what I’ve heard Berkshire’s team is much more stable than almost any other UMM, with most of the leadership/seniors having started and stayed there. Likely helps with maintaining reputation/investment perspectives

 

Any insight on comp? I had heard it was in line with MF but didn’t know it was significantly better/different? 

 
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Unrelated question but why would any PE firm not offer generous co-invest? Seems like a win win for everyone.

Associates get skin in the game, huge upside opportunity, and access to capital that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

Firm gets additional dollars (even though I assume co-invest is no fee?), associates have incentive alignment, and it’s basically looked at as comp so they’re saving that money on a cash basis.

Not sure if firms are somehow incentivizing the 3rd party lender (seems to always be First Republic?) to give low rates or if it’s just a marketing gimmick from first republic to get a bunch of young high earners into their platform on some relatively low risk loans (coinvest is personally guaranteed + no UMM/MF fund is going to actually go to 0).

My point is, why is every reputable UMM/MF out there not offering $300K+ in associate co invest? Just don’t understand the downsides

 

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