Transitioning to Acquisitions

Hi all,

I am looking for advice on transitioning back into acquisitions.

For some background, I have a bachelor’s in finance and completed an MSRE in 2022. I had a brief stint (about a year) in acquisitions for a developer but during this time I did not close any deals.

3-4 years ago I accepted a role in asset management for a well known LP (T1 Market).This was intended to be temporary, but I am now years in, currently at the associate level, and have had extreme difficulty trying to transition out.

I have yet to run into a case study I’ve had problems with, but for every role I am told that I am either too senior (analyst postings) or do not have enough direct acquisitions experience (associate postings).

I am at the point where I am not sure how to improve my chances at these roles.

Interviews are few and far between, and the process always ends the same way. In my opinion it is not that I am demonstrating any lack of technical ability or knowledge, but perhaps I am struggling to make a compelling case for why they would hire someone in asset management (who has done acquisitions in the past) for an acquisitions role. Any advice from those who have made the jump would be appreciated, open to sharing some case studies I’ve collected from some well known shops in exchange for any good tips.

5 Comments
 

Are you applying to roles that have asset management and acquisitions responsibilities? It's an employer's job market right now, so I can understand why some of these firms are fine shrugging you off. Maybe you could put together an investment memo and provide it as additional evidence that you can analyze a deal and it wouldn't be much of a transition for you?

 

I have applied to some hybridized Acq/AM roles, but confusingly have had a harder time landing interviews for those than pure acquisitions. The memo may be a good idea, will look at putting together a model and investment memo as an attachment to each application.

 
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