Long Term Comp Structures

Hello, I’m just negotiating compensation. I’ve heard some of my peers talk about the difference in receiving true carried interest via an equity participation or LPA agreement. Conversely, I’ve heard some folks say that they receive carried interest as more of a profit share from GP interests. The distinction between the two being that one is an actual equity interest, whereas the other is an approximation of carry and pay out of cash.

I was hoping somebody could help explain this further. It would seem to me that in the latter (the approximation of carry and pay out of cash) there are no tax benefits, and there is no complication from a severance perspective (it’s really just a deferred bonus payment). Does anyone have any additional context they can add? Has anyone else seen either or both structures?