Comp & career question - AM vs Brokerage
Okay, so I really don't have much of a salary clue in London so I was wondering if anyone can shed some light.
With the sole focus being earning money, is it better to join and stay at a Brokerage like CBRE, JLL, or Savills in their Capital Market teams? I don't know what the bonuses are like in a normal year, I know this year is an anomaly so I don't want to include it.
Currently, I have an offer to join the Capital Markets grad scheme at one of the top brokers (JLL/CBRE/Savills) however I also recently got an offer from a large AM firm in their RE team (RE team has >$30bn in assets). The catch is I won't be in their fund/transactions team but more so on the strategy team i.e. macro research & fund level reporting with some input into new acquisitions/dispositions.
What would you guys or gals choose? I am at a loss on what to do.
I know REPE is a thing, but I feel brokerage is a better option for that move? The issue is that the grad programme I have an offer from is rotational so there is no guarantee I get placed into the M&A or D/E placement team (I asked HR and I can't give a preference for the teams I want in my rotation - it's just given to me). So after my 2-3 years when the programme ends, I could just end up in a random capital markets team that isn't technical.
Also on the REPE thing, I think I've seen profiles of BB IBD analysts with no real estate coverage, move to REPE firms (hence my worry that brokerage rotations might screw me if I don't get the technical experience).
Thanks.
Considering that you have offers from both shouldn’t you know what compensation to expect? It wouldn’t be out of line to ask what % bonus is typical for the position.
I can’t comment on what compensation will be as I’m not based in Europe but my guess would be that the AM company will have a higher base salary, and given that you’d be on rotation at the brokerage I don’t imagine that you would be given a considerable bonus. In the first couple years of your career brokerage will typically pay less than the principal side unless you are on a strong team with good deal flow.
Despite this I would probably take the brokerage position as the AM role does not provide applicable experience to an acquisitions/investments role (assuming this is what your long term goal is when you say “REPE”). As well, if you are rotating within capital markets, I don’t imagine any of the rotations would be inapplicable. All capital markets teams work on transactions which is more relevant than research/reporting, regardless of product type and scale.
Source: Started in capital markets at one of the above mentioned firms and now work at a large fund manager.
Brokerage will give you way more deal experience. You will be doing multiple models a week vs AM you will be modeling one property or two then working to complete that business plan.
Thank you for your reply!
Yes, you are correct - base is higher at the AM firm.
It's just I had heard mixed thing on brokerage e.g. some had IB level bonus, others worse than AM bonus. Additionally, it seems the M&A and D/E team recruit separately to the standard Capital Market teams.
Given all of this hassle, I thought it might be better to just go work for a boutique IB and then lateral to the M&A team in the future (or just go directly to the principal side).
Most principal buyside firms I know prefer IS / brokerage analysts over AM. Around 90% of the larger principal firms in HCOL and larger cities are going to prefer brokerage over AM and I've seen it happen with many of my previous coworkers. The AM analysts typically have a much harder time getting past a couple round of interviews because they just don't work enough deal flow and don't understand how to properly value different assets on the ground level. Food for thought
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