Work in secondaries for a respected shop - want to move to control buyouts - IBD/Consulting make sense?

Hi guys. I currently work as an associate at a respected secondaries investor - think Coller/Lexington/Partners Group/Pantheon/Harbourvest. I have been here for a couple years and comp is fine, but I want to move to a much more hands-on role and not invest purely in funds. Our co-investment activity is there but limited.

I don’t have an IBD background and to be frank, my business experience is probably light as our diligence is much lighter due to the nature of secondaries transactions.

Does it make sense for me to a 2-3 year stint in IBD or at MBB to develop a stronger analytical skillset and try to move to a control buyout shop? Headhunter inbounds I have received have been for associate level roles at both ranging from middle market banks to EBs.

5 Comments
 

Can you move to a team (either internal or external) that does co-investments in addition to some amount of secondaries/primaries?

Array
 

Do you mind sharing hours and comp expectations for associates, senior associates, and vp for the top secondaries funds like the ones you mentioned?

What are some of the pros/cons of working in secondaries in your opinion? Planning on recruiting for them, so it would be really helpful.

Sorry I can’t be much of a help but I actually have older friends who’ve moved from associates at funds that focus heavily on co-investments into MM PE. Some have had to come in as associates again while one actually got into MM PE as a senior associate

 

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