Asset Management at PE fund or Acquisitions at Pension Fund
Hi all,
Trying to choose between two offers I have and was wondering which could set me up better for an acquisitions job at a bigger PE fund or even a role in a REIB gaming & lodging group? My end goal would be lodging acquisitions.
-Acquisitions analyst at a pension fund (think CalPERS): Real estate allocation is invested in half direct properties half commingled funds -Analyst in asset management for a value add PE fund (1B AUM)
What experience would be more valuable: The acquisitions experience or experience in private equity?
Thanks in advance
Acquisitions all day.
Depends on the firm. I've done both, and the quality of the experience will depend on the individual employer. I would say, if you want to be in Acquisitions, do that. Acquisitions is project-based work. Each new target is different and you don't win them all. Asset management involves more process-based work, in addition to management and problem-solving, planning, etc.
There's no question - if you want to learn acquisitions, do acquisitions.
Acquisitions. Don't even think twice.
Are either of these focused on Hotel & Gaming?
Neither
Bump
How silo'd you will be at the PE fund is a consideration. You may touch the acquisitions process quite a bit if you are used as more of a "generalist."
Both has its pros and cons. Acquisitions work is definitely project oriented so you will be learning a lot of the granular details of underwriting deals and the whole acquisitions process as well. With a pension fund, you will be doing more work at a high level. This means, you will be focusing more on the strategy side, but will still be doing a significant amount of underwriting, but you just won't be chasing all the assumptions (for the direct investments). This is because with JV/separate accounts, the pension fund is the LP, not the operator, which means the operator is researching all the assumptions (which can be extremely tedious and boring for some), you just verify and validate their assumptions. With open/closed end funds, you will have minimal discretion so you will probably not do any underwriting (if you work at a pension fund and are the investor). I disagree strongly with most of the comments in this thread that state that you should definitely go into the PE firm to reach your end goal. Working for a pension fund is prestigious in its own right, it requires you to be much more academic with your approach and will open lots of doors for you. More importantly, every shop wants someone with significant institutional experience as this is where the majority of the capital comes from in the RE/PE world. There are hundreds of REPE firms that have dogshit performance that continue to exist, with a pension fund, there is no margin for error. If you can't achieve the pension funds required rate of return, everyone gets wiped out. It is stressful, requires academic and intellectual rigor, but is extremely rewarding. Choose wisely.
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