Best PCA/Secondary Advisory Groups

Hi all, I'm currently a bit over a year into a role working at a small international boutique placement agent doing private client advisory (GP fundraising & secondary advisory). I'm looking into applying for some roles in the same area, leaning more towards secondary's, but still very open to more fundraising focused seats.

I'm trying to get as much info as possible on the different groups across the street. I know PJT Park Hill, Evercore, and Lazard are probably the best players in this space and I'd love to get some insight on hours & culture for those groups.

Outside of the EB's, I'm a bit more in the dark as to who the best players are. More focused on banks here rather than independent boutiques (I know who most of these firms are and I'm more interested in getting experience on a bigger platform).

Any input from the community around comp, culture, hours, and best shops in the space are greatly appreciated. WSO needs more info on this space as it's an awesome vertical to work in while having relatively little information & discussion on the market.

 
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Below are my thoughts as a secondary market buyer (principal) in the space. I work with all of the groups and think of them as follows. If you want more details, please let me know:

Tier 1:

Evercore - Has become the highest volume group but quality is a bit behind Jefferies and Goldman

Goldman Sachs - New group that's ex-Lazard. Strongest sponsor coverage and execution capabilities

Jefferies - The 'brand name' in the business. Team is ex Greenhill (who were #1). Priority is GP stakes but they still do LP baskets

PJT Park Hill - highly regarded group. A bit behind jefferies and goldman in quality but still tier 1

Tier 2:

Campbell Lutyens - A bit behind Jefferies, Evercore, Lazard, but well respect and strong deal flow

Lazard - A step behind Jefferies, Goldman, Evercore. Have some staffing issues and going to focus more on GP-leds now.

Tier 3:
Afidity - Similiar to M20 but better quality.

Axon Partners - Similar to Cebile but slightly better quality. Low volume.

Citi - Pretty limited deal flow, not really a player

Credit Suisse - Pretty limited deal flow, not really a player

Duff & Phelps - Hairy/exotic transactions - more of a valuation advisory shop

Eaton Partners - Placement agent that sometimes does GP-leds. Good quality group.

Elm Capital - Similar to Cebile but slightly better quality

Fairview Capital Group - Placement agent that sometimes does GP-leds. Not as good quality as Eaton or Sixpoint.

Greenhill - Asia-Pac team is only group remaining. They're pretty much just doing LP-trades. Think they'll go under soon.

M20 - Just a hair above Cebile in quality. Still not great.

Melting Point Solutions - Similar to Cebile but slightly better quality

Rede Partners - Placement agent that sometimes does GP-leds. Dealflow isn't as strong as Sixpoint or Eaton. Good name for fundraising.

Sixpoint Partners - Placement agent that sometimes does GP-leds. Good quality group.

Triago - Similar to Cebile but slightly better quality

UBS Alternative Funds Advisory - Pretty limited deal flow, not really a player

Upwelling Capital Group - Similar to Cebile but slightly better quality, limited deal flow

Tier 4:

Brant Street Capital - Pretty much the same business as Setter Capital. High volume but low quality.

Cebile Capital - High volume business but pretty sloppy execution. More of a brokerage shop. Recently acquired by Raymond James - word is the acquisition isn't going well.

Mozaic Capital Advisors - Low volume. Not the best quality/name.

Setter Capital - Very high volume business but pretty sloppy execution. More of a brokerage shop. Poor reputation and generally disliked in the industry

Other:

Guggenheimn - Seems dead after the false start and exodus to Jefferies.

Rothschild - Not sure if going to get off the ground. GP led shop.

Houlihan - Not sure if going to get off the ground. GP led shop.

Tradition Private Markets - Not sure if going to get off the ground. GP led shop.

 

At a competitor so no horse in the race but would swap GS and LAZ. Has GS even closed any deals yet? Lazard has always focused and done well on the GP side and we frequently pitch against/lose mandates to them. That said, I definitely do not see them as a serious competitor on the LP side. Regarding Jefferies, I'd disagree they're the brand name in the space (that's EVR). Cogent (Greenhill) dominated the LP side of the market but it's probably fair to wait and see how well they do targeting the GP side. Appreciate the info on the smaller players as we never really cross paths.

 

Appreciate the view - it's obviously very subjective. Here are more of my thoughts:

1. Until COVID, the GP-led market wasn't really a thing (comparatively speaking). The vast majority of deal flow was in plain vanilla basket sales and Greenhill had the best connections and best execution capabilities by a mile. When COVID hit and valuations went out the window the GP-led space boomed and coincidentally the fees for these super diversified LP sales were getting pretty thin (especially from the likes of pensions, it is a race to the bottom). On the other hand, GP-leds pay way fatter fees.

2. Evercore is a sweatshop. Their volume is phenomenal but volume isn't everything. Everyone I know at EVR is freaking miserable and they still are understaffed despite having an army of associates.

3. GS is unlike any other group in that they have full integration with their M&A and Sponsor coverage groups. Imagine having a single unified pitch to a GP to see your full suite of exit options as opposed to being solicited by 3-4 different verticals within the same IB, all competing for the same business.

4. LAZ: Just not really a fan of some of the staff there, to be frank. Find them pretty arrogant. I've always preferred working with other shops...also they have a staffing hole right now.

 

I appreciate you writing all of this out but your list is colored in some very particular ways that I would not at all say are reflective of industry sentiment. Goldman literally just entered this space and I have not heard of a single deal they have printed. To put them above places like EVR/PJT and even LAZ is pretty questionable as you’re essentially ascribing more value to hype than results.

Similar story with JEFF. They are currently essentially the former GHL LP team under the same roof as GP-focused leavers from other more established shops. I agree that the team is very strong in its constituent pieces, but as a combined unit they are very much still proving themselves. Pretty biased IMO to suggest that these guys and Goldman are the best in any way. It would be as if McKinsey opened a restructuring IB practice tomorrow and you put them above PJT on the rationale that McKinsey is really good at the other stuff they’ve been doing this whole time.

Ask anyone who is a practitioner right now and they likely respond that EVR is enjoying its moment in the spotlight, having successfully capitalized on the COVID dislocation to bring forth good single asset and multi asset FCV deals. This doesn’t make them the “best”, but it does reflect the current (transient) state of play. 
 

Goldman and Jeff on the other hand are very much two of the umpteen new entrants to the field - all of them betting big on secondaries while aggressively poaching top talent from the EVR/PJT/GHL incumbents.

 

isn't GS secondary advisory just 2 ex-Lazard guys? haven't even built out their team yet 

also, can you speak to culture and upward mobility at EVR/GS/JEF/PJT/LAZ? taking it those are the 5 main players

 

They are all going to have similar pay and mobility if you're coming in as an associate. The reason why I harped on Jefferies being T1 quality comes down to reputation of the principals. As of late I have seen Evercore F-up auctions where they get 30+ buyers to do DD and stage a multi-round process and then allow an aggressive buyer to circumvent the entire process - it's pretty disrespectful and those kind of actions spread negatively around the industry. I have worked for 10 years with the staff at Jefferies and that kind of behavior doesn't get tolerated.

In terms of culture, it depends what's important to you. Evercore has the highest volume of deal flow so if you want to learn then that's probably your best bet. At the same time, they are under-staffed for their volume and it's incredibly busy and stressful.

Lazard is slightly better (from what I am told) - they focus way more on GP-leds, which are pretty interesting, but you won't get the same experience if you're only covering that part of the market.
 

 

So I am not the only one feeling the same way about Setter? I think its like a modern day version of a boiler room in there. 

Kinda sad to see what happened at Houlihan and Greenhill, the former was the name when it came to hairy GP-leds when Jeff Sanabria led the team. Greenhill was the name in LP-leds until that team left. Both are as good as dead now. Goes to show how competitive the war for talent in secondaries is. Must be good to be on the PCA side at one of the Tier 1 shops. 

 

I'm in NY and every time I go to a networking event one of the topics of conversation is how sh*t Setter is - terrible approach of showing fake deals to buyers, super sloppy pitches, no execution support, egregious fees - the list goes on and on. We now have them go direct to our junk mail box.

Isn't Houlihan now being run by the guy that ran CS? Not much faith in him? Just curious.

 

Definitely sad what Houlihan's become. They used to have a cooler name too I feel like before (something like Illiquid Financial Assets group?) They worked on the most complex, hairy stuff. Good for those ex- co-heads though. They now head Manulife's secondary investing efforts and probably make carry and bank. Those co-heads left and their "head" person is just expired and molded breadcrumbs of secondaries advisory 

 

CS is definitely a Tier 3 and have been for quite some time. The person that left for Houlihan was a lame duck Director with a poor reputation, attitude and appearance who was constantly being nudged to leave. He had never brought in revenue and yet complained for years that he couldn't get promoted. He's amongst the oldest dudes in Secondary Advisory and there's a high competition for talent that Houlihan just brought him in as they had no other options.

 

lmfao quit capping - you just got screwed over in the placement process bud. i've been there

try to lateral to a top player in a year and you'll be in a cushy spot. good luck

 

Do the people on the PCA teams doing GP-leds actually find the work intellectually stimulating? Since you will mainly be dealing with sophisiticated financial sponsors on those transactions, how much value can you add past the transaction execution process? I would think the GP has a good idea where the business or portfolio can trade for and if not, wouldnt the industry banker at the IB be the person doing the heavy lifting around valuation and deal pricing?

 

Not sure about intellectually stimulating but their bank accounts look far richer!

Some of the fees for these GP leds are ridiculous. Recently I saw:

-2/20 fee structure with 30% carry after a 2x MoC (lol - if I am doing a GP led I expect a minimum 2.5-3x tbh).

-150 bps upfront fee to GP (why?!?)

-400 bps structuring fee (probably to cover the IB costs, but still, that's high for a 500m+ deal)

 

Wait a minute, the management fees and carry go to the underlying GP, not the broker running the deal. I imagine the PCA groups are making a few points on the NAV of the transaction. Very good and I'd say fairly easy money to make since a lot of these deals are quite large and can easily be placed with secondary buyers if the GP and assets are high quality. But yes, the carry structure on some of these deals to the GP is insane, again, goes to show how competitive the space has become.

 

Would not be surprised if you were a young gun yourself with all these shots being fired 🔫🔫

I can appreciate a good secondaries lawyer tbh. In my experience these deals can demand some legal creativity/commercial understanding from time to time and I’m down for that to be recognized.

But let’s also be honest, the whole thing is a also a popularity contest.

 

I take it you are referring to a GP-led, most likely restructuring or continuation fund? Well you could always tie their carry to outperformance and not a BS number like an 8% IRR. If I'm doing a single asset deal, or frankly any kind of GP-led deal I'm expecting returns well north of a 2.5x MOIC and 25%+ net IRR. If I delivered a net 8% on a deal I'd get fired.

 

Understandable - feel like market terms are very GP-friendly right now though given how hard people chased FCVs during 2020. How much traction do you get with that approach?

Also interested on the LP side if you have any thoughts. Obviously the underwrite is less surgical and higher level but curious whether and how buy side leverages their historical fund reporting to sensitize the (sometimes insane) projections made by the underlying GPs.

 

I have spoken with many current and former employees at EVR on the PCA team and the feedback is that the pay is obviously exceptionally strong, as is the deal flow and your access to speaking with top quality GPs, buyers, and sellers. However, they were all pretty consistent in saying that the average tenure on the team is very short and this is due to a widespread 'toxic' culture: extremely overworked, often short staffed, constant gaslighting. A group you may want to consider is Campbell Lutyens. They're smaller but the treatment will be better.

 

Circling back to this post, PEI just released their nominees for the Secondaries Awards 2021. Hopefully, it gives some context to the rankings in this post and on other threads. It's not a perfect metric but the trends do tell a story.

Europe Deal of the Year: Lazard (2x), Evercore

Europe Advisor of the Year: Campbell Lutyens, Credit Suisse, Evercore, Lazard

US Deal of the Year: Campbell Lutyens, Evercore (2x), PJT

US Advisor of the Year: Evercore, PJT, Lazard, M2O

Asia Deal of the Year: PJT, Campbell Lutyens, Evercore

Asia Advisor of the Year: Lazard, PJT, Evercore, Campbell Lutyens

It all suggests that there is a global tier 1 of: Evercore, Lazard, PJT, and to a lesser extent, Campbell Lutyens. I wouldn't overthink it - these are the main players as of today. Yes, Goldman (insert any other new group) could become a major player but as of today they are not yet established at the top.

 

The whole PEI deal of the year stuff is mostly non-sense... at least the nominees. Just bombard Adam Le (like the one and only news editor in the PE secondaries world) to put you on the list and he will be coerced to do exactly that (e.g. get down on your knees and open your mouth). 

I heard that the incel of Credit Suisse's ex head of secondaries who peaked at Director used to do this regularly. lol!

 

Why is there so much hate against him? Granted, I'm on the buyside so my experience may be different to those on his team but I always found him to be very pleasant to deal with.

Apart from that, I agree with you on the PEI deal of the year stuff. IR from all the secondary funds just bombard that bullsh*t "news" source. It's all politics, same with that young guns nonsense.

 

Hi guys, as a junior this thread has been super helpful and interesting!

Interviewing with a PCA team for an entry level position. Have prior IB sector coverage internship and other general finance experience. What can one expect in terms of technicals on an interview? Same as an IB interview i.e compsDCF and LBOs? Or since this isn't a modelling heavy team, questions are usually fit based? I assume LP leads are usually no modelling but mostly placement and sales process. What about GP leads? Does one model around the valuation of a GP lead single asset deal?

 

Directs, as in GP-led single asset carve outs? Or, directs as in buying shares in private unicorns? For the former if say Evercore, Lazard, and Credit Suisse. For the latter, it's a real mixed bag and is more akin to brokering than secondary advisory.

 

Mirae and Saxon Weber. Setter is utter garbage. They remind me of used car salesmen.

 

Hi folks

I have a case study with a Private capital advisory business at an EB (Lazard/Evercore/PJT). Has anyone undergone something similar? Would anyone know what it could be? Would seriously appreciate any help and reward with silver bananas!

They advise both LP and GP leds. How does one value an LP led vs a GP led? 

Are the NAVs on the LP leds valued at book values or using comps on EV EBITDA basis?

For GP Leds I would assume this is mostly an LBO valuation

Thanks!

 

Hi guys,

Have an hour long case study at one of the PA shops mentioned on this thread. This is an entry level position. Any idea on what the case study could be? They do both GP and LP lead advisory

 

Any views on Evercore PCA London? Specifically hours, comp, culture, exit ops?

 

Spoke to them recently on an opportunity, and answer seems to depend on whether you're working on the GP or LP side. Hours seem to be worse on the GP led side but the folks there all seem to great people. On the junior level, it seems to be very easy to exit to another advisory shop or even a secondary PE shop. Wasn't able to discuss comp with them but I would imagine it's at the same level as the US folks

 

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