Do you actually offer / or get asked about your opinion on an investment as an associate?

From a lot of sources (guides, internet articles, people's why PE answer) I've heard them talk about how as an associate they will be able to provide their opinion on investments, or part of the job involves soemtimes giving your opinion to a higher up VP/principal regarding a potential investment

Is this actually true? Or would I look like naive saying this? AKA as an associate are you mostly execution, and you're not asked about your opinion very often? Not that I would be disappointed if it's the latter (just what I figured)

Looking for some more color here, thanks

 

I'm sure it's a mix and highly dependent on the culture of the firm. I've been at two middle-market PE firms (traditional buyouts) and at both as a junior person you are relatively important when it comes to forming an opinion. If your deal team consists of 2-4 people, and you are the closest to the data/information flow, it's incumbent upon you to both communicate what's important and what your takeaways are. In some places that's expressed during small deal team meetings and at some that's appropriate during firm-wide meetings. You may not have an official vote on the investment committee, but you can express an opinion.

It may be different elsewhere (I've heard of places where the investment committee is effectively one person), but that's been my experience.

 

Yes. All of our associates are present at investment committee meetings. The associate on the deal team usually takes the lead in presenting the opportunity to the committee. We vote based on seniority in reverse order, so the associates need to vote first (reduces bias). Their vote doesn't technically count per our governance documentation, though we are interested to hear their opinions on the opportunities.

This is certainly not true at every shop and would likely become unwieldy in larger shops. It's primarily a function of culture at the shops with less headcount.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 
CompBanker:

Yes. All of our associates are present at investment committee meetings. The associate on the deal team usually takes the lead in presenting the opportunity to the committee. We vote based on seniority in reverse order, so the associates need to vote first (reduces bias). Their vote doesn't technically count per our governance documentation, though we are interested to hear their opinions on the opportunities.

This is certainly not true at every shop and would likely become unwieldy in larger shops. It's primarily a function of culture at the shops with less headcount.

The place where I worked at pre-MBA as an Associate and the place where I am now do the exact same thing so associates definitely get to have a say. First couple IC meetings and beat-down sessions where a little nerve-wracking as a fresh associate since I knew I would be the first to give my option!!!!

 

Yes, all the time. As others have said, it is a function of a firm's size and culture.

While I don't technically have a vote, if nothing else, I act as a sounding board for my partners / VPs to rationalize their thoughts on an investment before presenting it to our investment committee.

 

Background: "big name" Special Sits fund

Yes, opinion of associates matter at our fund. It depends on many factors though. Certain associates are more highly regarded than others, seniors can be "drivers" or "co-operators" etc. Sometimes an associate may simply know more about a sector than any of the deal team members because he did a deal. In relaying that informational edge one can definitely put in a strong opinion. Then again, they will definitely not have an official vote.

DYEL
 

I can only talk about European funds, but it's a big YES.

I will provide some more color to what Compbanker already said. This is only anecdotal evidence and will highly depend on the culture and headcount of your fund.

I worked as an intern analyst (6 months placement) for a European buyout fund who hired analysts straight out of undergrad. Our deal team was usually 2-4 people and the analysts, after a few months, usually presented their deals in the investment committee. You have to remember that the analysts/associates do most of the ground work in a small team and are often the only ones who have gone through all the documents in detail, depending how hands on the principals are. On one deal, the deal team consisted of me (the intern), a principal and a partner. I traveled with them to the management meeting in another country, prepared questions for the due diligence providers and even lead a meeting with a CFO to understand the numbers better. On our trip back to the office (5 hour car ride), I had a long discussion with the partner about our impressions of the management team and facilities. When he presented our view on the management team during the next team meeting, I recognized certain things I had mentioned to him in his presentation. At the end of the day, I think it is very important to be able to back your opinion up with facts which you read somewhere in the due diligence/through your own research and analysis.

I now work as an analyst for a private debt fund. Our deal team is usually 3 people. We all voice our opinions and vote in reverse order. If we want to continue with the deal (majority vote), I will then present it to the larger team. It is quite unusual, but my vote essential counts as much as the partner's one. It basically comes with the trust that you did a good analysis of the deal and will grow over time.

 
Best Response
Morgan9800:

May i know what the fund that recruits right after undergrad is please? or a couple of them if you know if you'd want to keep it a bit vague and confidential? Thanks

Several large cap PE funds have a structured graduate program and you can find them by simply going on their careers page. I have found that most of them will respond to your application, even if you don't have any contacts inside the firm. It obviously helps a lot to know people "on the inside." As far as I know, all application deadlines should have passed by now as they are at the same time as the IB deadlines, but I am not 100% sure so it might be worth checking if you are still looking for a PE analyst position in Europe.

Mid-market funds will only hire based on needs their needs, often if a junior is leaving. From what I have seen, they either hire from their most recent intern class or through headhunters. I can highly recommend Dartmouth Partners and PE Recruit! PE Recruit tends to have a lot of positions in London and Munich, primarily in the mid-market and lower mid-market. Dartmouth Partners tends to recruit for slightly larger funds and sometimes also pension funds (think CPPIB's PE arm). Furthermore, Dartmouth Partners also recruits for other areas, which PE Recruit only does on a one-off basis. There are also some smaller headhunters, but they tend to focus on a specific geography.

Anyway, I will shoot you a PM with the process of the fund I worked at and the prerequisites to apply there as an analyst straight out of undergrad. We can take the conversation from there.

 

I think it depends on the level of experience/education of the associate pool of your fund. Definitely yes for MBAs. I'm an Associate at a large REIT and yesterday I had my 6 month performance review. All associates are post-MBA, but I had assumed that as an Associate it wasn't my place to give opinions (the VP does the IC presentations, although associates are present). Yesterday in my review I learned that assumption was wrong - my Sr. VP told me they loved my work but wanted to see me make more recommendations on the investments I underwrite. He told me that any finance monkey can put numbers on a spreadsheet, but they need me to draw conclusions from those numbers. Wish I knew this earlier but better late than never.

 

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