Break into Infra PE : Modelling (Advisory) vs PF (Lending)

Hi everyone, 

Hope you are all good ! Everything is said in the title. My goal within 2-3 years is to transfer to a PE Infra fund, and I currently need to choose between Advisory (think Big Four specific division) or Major European Banks in PF. I am literally stuck ... I voluntarily excluded Infra M&a because I believe I will spend more time in Excel, doing models, in business modelling / PF. However, if you think otherwise, feel free to tell me that I am wrong !

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated ! 

 
 
Most Helpful

A few thoughts (from a European lens) assuming you're currently a student/intern:

- Some infra funds offer grad schemes (e.g. MIRA) so would shoot for those too - if you want to get into PE, just try to start in PE (obviously easier said than done)

- Infra M&A can be very modeling intensive, especially on the PE front (my firm uses IBs for modelling and I have friends in Infra IB that spend 50%+ of their time modelling as AN2/3)

- The issue with PF is that you may be perceived as having a lender mindset (and skillset) rather than being an equity investor. If you want to end up doing PPPs, this is probably less of a concern. If you want to do PE (i.e. buying and steering companies), you're better off doing M&A than lending

- Starting in banking/PE will give you more flexibility if you find that Infra PE turns out to be less of a match than you thought (I started in REPE and always thought I wanted to do Infra PE but turns out I really do love buildings more than pipelines). Starting in a modelling niche makes it harder to craft a 'holistic' investor/business story around your CV, whereas IB/PE arguably open lots of doors if you want to do something wildly different (as your skill set after 3-5Y is broader)

- I would generally refrain from spending 2-3 years of your 20s in a position that you see purely as a means to an end. This is a general observation I've made in this forum, with people suffering for two years in IB just to get into PE (as this seems to be the traditional route, especially in the US). I find it impressive if people can stick it out for so long (doing something they do not want to do in the long term) but have always found it excruciating myself - I remember literally counting down days while in a 6-month S&T internship I hated

Either way, good luck!

 

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