26 Comments
 

Kkr re folks aren't that impressive nor are bx imo. Top shops on MF level in my experience are Starwood, Carlyle, bx, kkr with the latter half lagging considerably. I work at a sponsor that regularly takes capital from 3 out of the 4 mentioned fwiw

What would make them impressive or not?

Frankly, the main thing of importance seems to be identifying good Sponsors.  After that, what real value is the fund providing?  Massive real estate funds have to deploy capital, which means being less picky about investing or at the very least investing in large deals where yields get driven down by heavy competition.

 

The top 3 in PERE (BX, Brookfield, Starwood) are far above and beyond Carlyle.

 

Personally disagree with the other guy. The people I know at BX and KKR are way sharper than the people I know at Carlyle. My opinion is BX>KKR=Starwood>Carlyle. Carlyle is a huge name in RE but I believe they hire a lot more people and that means a lot of more questionable people make it through the cracks. The others are leaner and so the average quality is usually higher. This is why the other three pay more than Carlyle.

Not trying to start a stupid prestige debate. Obviously all of them are very strong shops. Just wanted to share my thoughts.

 

Also curious which is stronger between KKR's RE credit team and RE equity team. How does the comp trajectory differ?

 

Agreed. Plus, KKR RE is so much younger than other platforms yet already are at the same caliber as BX, very impressive

 
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Lol same caliber. One manages $330B and recently raised the largest drawdown vehicle ever (any asset class) at $30B. The other manages $65B and raised a $4B vehicle (to be clear, nothing to scoff at). But it's laughable to call them the same caliber. 

What does caliber even mean? Stop putting these people on a pedastal, they're no better than you or me. 

The only thing these people are better at is having no regard to their personal connections and giving their 110% to being in the office. That isn't impressive nor something to worship. 

I've heard anecdotally that one of the heads of these platforms, who I shall not name, didn't even know it was his child's birthday when asked what his wife was doing. Is that the definition of calibre? The absent father who misses every important milestone of his own offspring and absent partner to the wife?

The guys at kkr, bx, starwood, caryle are really likely no better than you when it comes down to the job. 

 

Lol this thread is ridiculous. Your exit ops are going to be good. Trying to compare these funds with anecdotal evidence of people ‘being smarter bc it is more lean’ is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever. People are people. All firms have smart people and not smart people. Good people and bad people. Just bc a firm is lean or has more capital raised etc doesn’t mean they are smarter or more selective. It just means those people most likely work more hours bc there is less of them. 
 

The majority of people at these firms are just trying to do their job and go home like you. They just work at a sweatshop and get a big paycheck. 

 

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