Differences between Special Situations Funds

Could someone please the differences between different styles of special situations funds??? They seem to be both PE and HF special situations funds? Whats the difference in what they do? Also there seems to be long only equity spec sits, credit spec. sits, ......

Also whats the link to distressed debt?

 

Hi LaNoob, any of these discussions helpful:

  • AMA: GS Special Situations > > Founder of a Private Equity Startup Business Honors programs and was hired directly out of undergrad to GS. I worked in the firm's Special ... Situations Group, analyzing private equity and debt opportunities. I closed 11 private equity and debt ... firm in Asia, partners at the largest US PE funds, and other impressive gray hair. I'm a long-time ...
  • AMA- HY/Special Situations Analyst at $30bn+ HF in London /special situations desk at a very large HF. Will be attending the upcoming London reunion if of any ... Long-time user of WSO under a different account, believe it's time to give back. Background ...
  • Goldman Sachs SSG (Special Situations Group) I'd appreciate any insight into how this group operates or looks for candidates. Goldman Sachs Special ... Situations Group SSG is a group that sits within the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs but operates ... business, specializing in principal investing and lending in all levels of capital structures on ...
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  • What are some good event driven/special situation hedge funds? I am planning to apply to some event-driven hedge funds. Just graduating in couple of weeks, and ...
  • Special situations opportunity Hi all, looking at an associate role at a special situations fund. Wanted to understand the ... I wanted to make that switch down the line. Thanks. special situations ... perceptions of these funds and exit opportunities. The fund is focused on privately originated investments, ...
  • Difference between GSAM and other IM/HF firms? What's the difference between Goldman Sachs asset mgmt and other firms like Hedge funds and ... How is it different from typical HFs though? to Wednesday, November 1, 2017- 6:25pm ...
  • More suggestions...

No promises, but thought I'd mention a few relevant users that work in the industry: xgzs thewaterpiper macro bruin

Hope that helps.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 
Best Response

The distinction on the credit side is the following: Distressed generally refers to on the run, publicly traded securities or providing rescue/exit financing to companies that have publicly traded securities (or if not, at least investing in some sort of security/claim that is purchased on the secondary market). Special situations is more oriented toward the latter part of my distressed definition, in addition to directly providing various forms of private capital to companies that cannot access the syndicated market for one reason or another. Maybe they have a sponsor, maybe they recently filed, etc. This could take the form of first lien, other secured, mezz, have PIK elements, warrants, pref, common, you name it. Often those companies are also having financial difficulties, hence why they go down that path to raise money. These definitions are by no means mutually exclusive and really there is typically large overlap. Many Distressed and Special Situations funds will have similar return targets (e.g. ~15-17% IRR, 1.5x+ MoM). If they target higher/lower in the cap structure vs. what I describe, it will be more/less, respectively. You shouldn’t think of the categories as different - most funds do both.

When you think about the distinction between HFs and PE, the big distressed HFs all do what I have described, while PE will be more specifically oriented toward gaining control through equity. In addition, the HF vs. PE distinction can often simply refer to lockups and fund structure (I.e. introducing carry and 5-8 year lockup periods).

My understanding of equity special situations is more oriented towards the Greenblatt book, referring to various corporate actions that can result in mispriced securities.

 

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