Anyone know anything about Hudson Advisors in Dallas?

I currently work in a Fortune 100 Corporate Development group and got pinged by a recruiter for an Associate position with this PE firm. There is just not much out there on this firm outside the fact that they are part of Lone Star Funds and it appears they have a major RE presence and also deal in complex distressed financial assets...

 

It is much more HF than PE. It invests in distressed credit and assets, including RE. It is massive (most funds are $5B+) and given that, you know it has been successful historically. On the corporate side they acquire pools of distressed loans from the big banks (regional and up) and are generally not "loan-to-own", but rather passive investors.

They have a ruthless reputation in the industry in terms of trying to restructure or refinance, though my experience was that they are willing to give on some things in order to secure their return.

 

Lone Star has a strong reputation. However, you must remember your speaking about a position with Hudson. I'm not sure of what the exact role would be. I have seen on job boards and heard from recruiters multiple times about an Associate position with Hudson (maybe there is high turnover, who knows). However, my view of the role after speaking with them is that the position is more of an Asset Management role and less about traditional PE; something to look into. If that is still the case, then Real Estate AM is drastically different then traditional PE.

I could be wrong, but something to vet when you speak with the recruiter. Best of luck and don't forget to follow up on the board once you hear back.

Play the long game - give back, help out, mentor - just don't ever forget where you came from. #Bootstrapped
 

I'd highly recommend asking some folks in Dallas, where the firm has a very different reputation than what may be perceived in NYC and elsewhere. Incredibly high turnover by PE/HF standards, low comp relative to size of the funds, and as someone already mentioned, Hudson is the Asset Management side where employees manage existing assets. Very few people seem to sit within Lone Star where the deals are done. A friend previously there mentioned their HR group had taken to creating false reviews on glassdoor just because of how bad the employee feedback had become. It's pretty obvious once you read through them.

 

As a former Hudson employee, I can validate steakneggs - HR got really concerned about the negative Glassdoor reviews (which were there for a reason) and reached out to employees they thought were happy there and asked them to give positive reviews on the site.

 

Thanks - I echo most of your sentiments from what I can gather myself (e.g., very strange reviews/mix of reviews on GD). However, I have also heard a few good things from 'friends-of-employees.' I am also finding it quite strange how little there is 'out there' on a firm of that size. Furthermore, there seems to be a very strange mix of employees on Linkedin at the Associate level (e.g., from Harvard JDs to SMU undergrads). Regarding pay, I was told all-in around ~200k which I agree is a bit low (relative to competition of similar AUM), but seems to be top 80-90 percentile for Dallas Market PE/HF. Any other information from people with direct knowledge would be appreciated.

 

They are discreet for a reason. Not everyone you are seeing on LinkedIn is on the investment team. There are various groups. There are former commercial bankers with UG degrees from North Texas on the portfolio management team (more middle office). They are responsible for monitoring the status of the loans they are given that come from a pool of commercial loans & mortagages. They oversee repayment, default, etc. and report to higher ups that make the actual decisions regarding restructuring, bankruptcy approach, etc.

 
Best Response

I met one of the two guys who runs the US side of RE for Lone Star last year. Friend of a friend in a more social setting (drinks and dinner when he was in town) and we weren't talking about jobs or specifics but I was interested in the firm and I asked about Lone Star, so take this with a grain of salt because it was a while ago, I wasn't asking about working there and I should emphasize drinks, plural. Hudson is the Asset Management arm and Lone Star bought a bunch of dirty paper and shit like that during the crisis and Hudson is the arm that deals with those, not as much on transactions. He also said they're concentrating on non-US new deals now so the US guys at Lone Star itself aren't super busy right now (or at least last year). He was also a bit unsure about the long term future of the company as a whole because Grayken hasn't really put a succession plan in place and may not be interested in doing so. So even though it's a huge fund family and he's not that old (I want to say late 50's) he was a little confused as to the long term plan of the company: they've recently raised massive funds but when it comes to the next round(s) of fund raising LP's may be more cautious if a 60 something year old guy is raising 10 year funds without real succession plans in place. Although long term plans may not be important to you.

He seemed like a really good guy but that doesn't speak to the culture of the company at all.

 

This is extremely helpful. My take on your comments are as such: (1) the role I got pinged for is Associate - Asset Management, the description states that the person would be originating, underwriting, and assisting in ongoing portfolio company operations. It sounds to me as though they are creating a newer Associate position that encompasses what, historically, people on different teams would have done. But, I just don't know until I speak with them. (2) my background is in CPG banking/corp dev. so maybe they are looking for someone in the more traditional PE sense (on the corporate side). (3) What you are saying about the distinction between Hudson and Lone Star seems to gel a lot more with what the recruiter has been telling me vs. others on this thread; basically they are one in the same and the MDs sit within a different legal entity for reasons that I am sure have to do with making more money, lowering the tax base.

Can you give me details about your interviewing process, please?

Thanks!

 

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