Anyone had intel on work culture at EQT private equity or infra team? If you have specific info about Milan office greatly appreciated
Trending Content - Private Equity Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
June 30, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
Best work-life balance out of the large-cap PE firms in Europe.
This in Milan or in general?
In general, don’t know about Milan.
Worked with them on the sell-side and can confirm, very collaborative and laid back culture
I have 3 friends at EQT, and have worked with them on several deals. They are more collaborative that their American counterparts, and have a slightly nerdy culture. I'm not sure I would say that they are laid back - they are definitely competitive when it comes to tight processes, and there are very hard working individuals there. I don't think your experience at EQT is going to be vastly different to the one at UMM Scandinavian funds such as Verdane or FSN, who also have European offices.
Not that familiar with the Milan office, but have worked with people from Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Zurich. There are not that notable differences between the offices (Could also be because the CEO Christian Sinding, who's a Norwegian, has worked and started many of the European offices, and the culture tends to be slightly similar).
I think work culture is vastly different between FSN and Verdane. FSN has a pretty tough culture, work comes above anything else - it is even one of their three core values (“Team First”). Verdane is much more relaxed.
Both firms are top quartile though.
That's a fair point, and I agree. The two are different, but I was trying to relate it to EQT, which I personally would put somewhere in the middle of those two.
That’s helpful. Can you elaborate on the culture of FSN and Verdane and if they would be good places to join? Specifically interested in their German offices
Bump
Bump
I'm not sure if these posts are trolls? EQT, at least in Germany, is arguably one of the most sweatiest/toxic funds. Never heard anything good coming out of there. It is k*ss your a** goodbye kind of environment.
They also constantly recruit which tells you everything. Just recently a friend of mine left there after ~1.5Y. She hated every single day of it.
Hello. I'd like to talk a little bit more about EQT in Germany since you seem to know some things about it. Can we talk by email or something ? Thank you. Best, Camille
Now this is some EQT shit
does eqt have opportunities for ny sa 27?
Source: I work at EQT in North America.
If you think working at ANY megafund is going to be laid back, boy do I have news for you. Just because it is Euro-based does not make it chill. If anything, for any US-based worker, this is worse because you compete with the NAM megafunds, so you work terrible hours and endure cutthroat culture, but have a comp haircut because the headquarters are not in the US.
My experience as an associate has been 100+ hours a week on live deals (not exaggerating, can be more), which typically lasts 2-4 months, and 70-80hrs otherwise. Typically you are staffed on 2-3 live deal processes a year, so you can see how this quickly becomes terrible. Half the year or more you are just trying to survive while your life deteriorates to a point you don’t think is possible, and the rest of the time you are still working bad hours, but just may not want to off yourself. VP hours are not much better, sometimes even worse because you are expected to run everything and review the associate’s work.
Culture is whatever - same as all the other megafunds. Everyone is competing for a small number of seats and will step on your neck if it means a higher chance of promotion. Also, very woke because we are Euro. Lots of virtue signaling and sustainability / DEI bullshit.
Comp is okay, but notably below the other US megafunds. Carry is a myth. All the same usual PE gripes.
If you think EQT is materially better than other megafunds you are kidding yourself. They are all slightly different copies of one another, but probably truly indistinguishable from an associate experience. Believe me or don’t - it is what it is.
Do you work on PE team or Infra? Have heard the two are quite different (namely Infra being much worse)
Excuse me, but why do you say "Carry is a myth" ? From what i see in Europe, it's very common to get it (if you are a partner, of course). As for EQT, they have a lot of very bad deals in Europe (Glasaser, Cerba, Colisee, ...), so for them, yes, carry doesn't look great.
That is his point. Carry is mythological because you have to stay your life to get it, the current vintage is cooked, and the deal enviro sucks, and realistically you are probably going to get politically assassinated as a scapegoat for some zero before you actually get meaningful dollars.
Bit surprised by this comment - seems to be the first negative thing on here about EQT in US (assuming buyout NY, not Infra). Recent posts indicated top of street comp + actual carry for associates (was true as of last year when I spoke to a friend who works there too)
if you believe the carry you get as an ASO will materialize in anything you might as well place the bet on kalshi that Christ will return this Easter.
Yeah isn’t it European waterfall so you literally will not receive carry until end of fund life cycle which automatically means could be 10-15 years or never? Thought Euro waterfall is much worse than American
Any insight into their performance? Especially curious to know how their pet platform (IVC) is performing.
I hear comp is bad even for a European fund
There is no such thing as good culture at a megafund. There are individual teams with slightly less terrible hours/politics/crappy bosses.
I'd say one of the downsides to EQT--even to this day--is that comp is slightly below market, especially in the US. Bonus is lower and best they'll do is help you lever up your fund/deal co-investments with EQT.
Just curious how it compares to other Euro fund like Nordic, know Nordic is 370K all in, curious abt EQT
Accusantium perspiciatis eligendi aut amet deserunt sit in veniam. A totam commodi numquam esse. Autem quis culpa id ex rerum rerum blanditiis.
Ut quod id dolor nisi quaerat. Aperiam voluptatibus vel optio non asperiores ratione. Eos necessitatibus in veniam fugit non commodi. Possimus quaerat expedita molestiae. Rerum perferendis perspiciatis est tenetur. Aut mollitia accusantium amet dicta.
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...
Hic amet et fugit sed laboriosam. Omnis ad iure fugit qui et nihil. Officiis sapiente qui repudiandae. Et qui sit laboriosam quos.
Fugiat non enim iste vitae ab. Reprehenderit nulla et vitae sed aut sint perferendis quisquam. Atque facere ad quis. Rem ad perspiciatis rerum impedit porro.
Quae minus inventore sint ut nihil ex exercitationem delectus. Nobis quaerat et facere nostrum dolorem esse atque. Est tempore ut placeat consequatur. Odio corrupti est mollitia repellat optio.