Generally, Financial Sponsors groups aren't the best groups to work for in terms of PE placement. This isn't always the case, I know a guy who did GS sponsors as an analyst and went to Apollo and got promoted without MBA and has been crushing it. But generally, as an analyst in FS groups, you're day-to-day is more about working on client mgmt of PE firms and researching the PE space. You're not very close to the deals and hardly get any execution experience. For example, if TMT group is putting a sellside to market, they will consult with the FS group to see which sponsors from their contacts would be most interested in looking at the opp. The analysts in the TMT group as well as M&A group if they are supporting the transaction will do the majority of the execution.

As a result of all this, working in a sponsors group doesn't position you well for working for an actual sponsor.

 

I feel like GS is the only BB with a weak sponsors group. CS, MS, Barclays, BofA, JPM, and DB are all known to have strong sponsors groups. I’m less familiar with UBS and Citi, but have a feeling it’s not just relationship management. I’m not sure where this narrative about FSG comes from.

 

Not sure how you conjured this up; either you don’t work near sponsors or your team only does relationship mgmt. At CS/Barclays/MS/BofA FSG and 80-90% of our time is spent on deal execution (model included). PE placements / interview opportunities are largely MFs/UMMs. You’ll get the buyout interviews you want if working at a reputable BB FSG

 

I previously worked as an analyst at Citi. The sponsors group sends about 80% of their analysts to into PE. M&T probably sends about 2 or 3 of their 9 analysts each year.

Also, in terms of the relationship management vs execution point above, Citi sponsors does a lot of the execution. It's not a relationship management group similar to Goldman's structure.

 

Also a previous Citi analyst, I would echo what FearlessGiant said on this thread in 2018. Nothing has really changed. 

M&T has had some decent PE placements but only one or two per class (e.g., Cerberus, Thoma Bravo, Permira). Most people seem to go corporate and a couple of people get the promotion to associate and stay. Sponsors has had less glamorous, but still solid private equity placements (e.g., H.I.G., TH Lee) and more consistent placement than M&T. I have not heard of anyone who moved to a hedge fund from M&T or Sponsors.

 

Quick google / linkedin search shows that some have went from Sponsors to Permira as well.

Also, for those that want to stay on as associates, which group has the higher promotion rate, or does anyone that's not bottom bucket that wants to stay gets to stay?

Could you also speak to the execution vs. relationship management point that someone else brought up? What role does Sponsors play in a transaction and how does that group interact with the coverage and M&A/LevFin teams in a transaction?

 

Reality is that you'll get looks from PE in both groups from Citi so your best move would be to pick the group you vibe with the most. If you're deadset on PE then you should be proactive with headhunters anyway and you'll be evaluated on your deal experience more than the group you're in (again, as long as you make the effort to make sure you're included in the processes). When I was an associate at the MF I worked at and involved in recruiting, we would generally focus on transaction experience on the resume rather than group given analysts usually have little say over what they get staffed on etc and it can differ largely group to group and year to year.

 

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