Exit Opportunities in Toronto
What sort of exit opportunities exist in Toronto after a two year analyst stint. I am aware that many PE or hedge fund jobs exist in the US, but I can't find any recent information on Canada. Are the opportunities similar?
Thanks,
so you're saying you can't find any info on any PE shops/ HF in Toronto? have you tried using Google; pretty helpful.
I did search WSO and couldn't find anything on the topic that was relatively recent. I don't want to be planning based on outdated information because, as I'm sure you know, the finance industry is very different than it was a few years ago.
I am looking to learn from other people's experiences in the industry. I am aware that there are some PE firms in Toronto. But I think that I will get more relevent information from people who work in the industry than on a company website.
Big_Red mentioned using CVCA (was recommended to me by a friend who works in PE) They have a ton of companies all over Canada and is a great tool. The usual PE players are around and from what I know, its hiring as per usual and they're quite accepting actually of non-IB guys so maybe more competition?
PM if you want to know more, I hear everything straight from the horse's mouth.
Incorrect use of the semi-colon. Shameful.
haha shit, it was supposed to be a period. I thought i got away with it.
There are similar opportunities but they are much harder to come by. There just aren't nearly as many shops in Toronto. You'll have to really dig around.
I've read that most analysts in Canada continue in IBD, is this still the case? Thanks,
and there is a thread literally called "Exit Opps in Toronto" & "Toronto IB analysts-Exit Opps"
I work in sales in Toronto, but work across the board with IB/PE/VC.
1.PE/VC- Onex, Birch Hill, Ironbridge, Clearspring etc. Check out the CVCA website for a full list of these types of firms in Canada- Not a lot of big guys buy many smaller shops
Oil & Gas Corporate Development
Biotechnology Corporate Development
Let me know if I can help.
Do you think that it would be worth pursuing a career in Toronto if my goal isn't to become a lifelong banker? Or would it be better to try to move to NYC or similar? If so, how could I move there as a Canadian IBD analyst or as a student from McGill? Thanks alot for your help!
There are a handful of pension funds that are frequently hiring for all kinds of groups that are very interesting...private equity, relationship investing, private debt...
PE, places like Onex, Birch Hill, Brookfield, Imperial are all top-notch...
Some large traditional Canadian asset managers...the big U.S. guys run all their Canadian stuff out of NY, though.
HF community is tiny, most are garbage, few shops manage more than $100MM and even the biggest ones are very lean and rarely hire.
Very Interesting! In your opinion, would working at a pension fund offer similar advancement opportunities and comp as working In PE? Thanks alot,
Are you serious? Do you really think a pension funds comp is even remotely close to any good PE shop given both of their risk levels and investment philosophies? A quick Google search would answer half your questions in under 5 min.
Catalyst Capital is out of Toronto. Don't remember how big they are now but they are north of $3bn. Distressed PE fund with TOP performance.
I would tread lightly with those guys.
Though a HH reached out recently for them and after I initially shot the HH down due to culture they offered to set up a call with the Catalyst guys to address concerns. Makes me think they are at least cognizant of the issues or are trying to change.
That said.. worked on a deal with them and they are still over the top
Depends on what you're interested in.
There are lots of opportunities in Van and Calgary as well. Calgary has some solid PE firms and for obvious reasons they're primarily focused on Energy.
What good PE shops are there in Calgary? KKR closed their office earlier this years and the others are a joke (very low pay, strat is to pick a management team and throw money at them).
Getting back to the main question, I'll echo many of the comments above, there is a very limited HF presence in Canada and while there are a lot more PE funds, most are small and even the larger ones pay quite a bit below their MM peers south of the border. Many of the pension funds (OTPP, CPPIB) are very legit in terms of experience and have pretty smart people working there but they pay even lower than Canadian PE funds. Onex is the only one I can think of do solid deals and pay US-level comp.
How big was the KKR team - like 3-4 people? Is that your assumption or is that factual information from a primary source at firms such as Arc Financial/Azimuth (formerly KERN)/Triwest etc? I personally wouldn't call them a joke.
You're basically answering your own question, rendering this thread useless. I think you need to actually talk to people who work at these firms instead of reading Glassdoors reviews and chasing prestige. Just because you have a spot at a major PE firm it doesn't guarantee you the benefit of a larger salary. There's arguably just as much upside (if not more) at a smaller PE firm. It obviously depends on managements ability to drive origination and the size of the players in the market.
Source: I'm from Calgary and currently interning at a reputable mid-market PE firm in Asia-Pacific.
As an aside, everyone here seems to be implicitly writing off the Canadian pension funds because of their compensation. Firstly, the compensation is not "bad" -- for starters, the comparison is a bit skewed because some of them hire right out of college so you can't compare that analyst comp to a PE associate -- you have to do associate to associate, and last this kind of stuff mattered to me, it was probably a ~30% discount. A firm like Onex might pay $275k all-in while a CPP would be around the $180k-200k mark.
In any case, the Canadian pension funds do very interesting deals, have essentially unlimited firepower and the lifestyle is good. Lots of people wouldn't mind "only" making a few hundred thousand a year for that...
Just feel the need to point that out since it seems I'm the only person here with any real work experience.
Completely agree.
In addition, I've seen analysts and associates from pension funds move on to other very compelling (and probably lucrative) buy side positions.
Totally agree with the pension funds. They're very strong in dealflow, high quality people and the lifestyle can't be beat. Comp at OTPP is much lower than what you stated but you're right, great place to start a career on the buyside.
There a lot of quality AM firms based out of Toronto (CI, Mackenzie, Jarislowsky Fraser, Burgundy). These firms often hire ex-banking analysts. Comp and lifestyle are top notch as well.
Check out Alcion, Brookfield AM, Burgundy AM, CPP, Maison, OMERS, Ontario Teachers, Pinnacle, Sprott AM, Timbercreek, and Vision...
you can also check out the WSO Company Database...you can filter buy city and industry there.
So I think this was hinted at but the largest PE funds in Canada are actually the pension funds. Some of the top funds by Provence are (some repeats from above): Ontario: OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System), OTPP (Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan), OPP Quebec: Caisse de Depot, QPP Alberta: AIMCo (Alberta Investment Management Company) BC: bcIMC (BC Investment Management Corp) All of Canada: CPPIB (Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board)
These pension funds used to be sleepy government-esque entities until they started extending their mandates and providing more competitive comp. Working at CPPIB is a great gig. I know a lot of fellow Canadians who went to target US schools (H/W/S), IBD in tier 1 NYC BB banks (GS/MS/JPM) and did a "Homecoming" (returned to Canada) going to CPPIB or other PE arm of a pension fund.
If you work in any job in Canada, you will see a chunk of your pay check taken for CPPIB. As one colleague put it, if you take a little bit from everyone in Canada, it adds up to quite a lot of money to invest.
This was really helpful to me, Thanks.
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