Currently looking at two offers one at a placement agent at a CS, Eaton Partners, UBS type place and Fund of Funds (Adam Street etc.) for an associate position.
What would be a better choice (to be on the LP side or just a placement agent) in terms of comp/exits...also..I am coming from IB so I am not sure if these are both exit opps.
Thoughts?
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I know those groups really well. What would you doing at each shop? Would you touch on secondary advisory or just do capital raising for funds? What would you do at Adams Street? Btw, Adams Street are a great name in the industry.
Primaries, is this a dead end, I hear so. I hear secondaries can be much better.... also on the Principal level, do you know much these guys pull? 500k at a reasonable lifestyle?
I'm not bullish on any of those firms in terms of their secondary advisory capabilities - UBS in particular is a ghost in the market.
I think your salary estimates are reasonable, probably more like 550-600.
I think Adams Street is doing a lot of exciting things. If I was on the sell-side I'd want to be at a shop more like PJT, EVR, or Jefferies.
Do you see partners pulling in $1M comp or is the Placement Agent/FoF just a dead end overall?
Also, thoughts on being at a secondaries fund vs. the secondary advisory at a BB or like PJT EVR, I hear lifestyle is better on the fund size vs the Placement agent but cannot find any data points online recently.
Well I'm a principal at a secondary fund and work around 60 hours a week and earn around 750k per year ignoring my accrued carry.
Placement and secondary advisory is a grind but the hours aren't nearly as bad as traditional IB.
Did you join as an associate (coming out of IB)? Just curious, what are the expectation for secondary fund interviews (so far had a behavioral one, but heard technical can be different from traditional PE).
And what players do you think dominate the space (AlpInvest, Adam Street, HarbourVest, Ardian?) And I am assuming doing primaries is a No No..
Correct. I did join the firm as an associate but I had 4 years of IB experience so I was a bit of an older hire. The firm was very young at the time so I've been able to make my mark over the years.
I agree with you that secondary market interviews are a-typical. In terms of hiring, we hire analysts (zero work experience, just past internships) and associates (pre-mba) with IB experience but no private markets buyside experience. For those interviews they're really more behavioral and to try and get a feel if they understand how we invest and what we are all about. We've never asked anyone to build an LBO or three statement model as it isn't going to be very applicable for the investing we do.
Primaries are done within a secondaries firm, often as a form of 'pay to play' in order to get accepted with a certain manager you need to provide them with some dry-powder - these deals are called "staples" because you're stapling a primary commitment to a secondary transaction.
The secondary market is evolving really fast and no firm has the exact same strategy as another so it's hard to say who dominates. What I can tell you what the different niches are and who is big in those areas:
Direct Secondaries: W Capital, Sweetwater Capital
GP Led: Glendower, Portfolio Advisors, Neuberger Berman, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, ICG, Harbourvest, Pomona, Timber Bay, Manulife
Distressed: Banner Ridge, Multiplicity
Credit: StarMountain, Whitehorse, 17 Capital, Pantheon
Infra: Pantheon, Brookfield, Macquarie (new), Stafford
Funds of Funds: Overbay, Bex, Sturbridge
Small deals: Kline Hill, Newbury, Willowridge, Felicitas, Schroders, Mill Reef, Labrynth
Impact: Stafford, NorthSky
Diversified: Ardian, Blackstone, Coller, Goldman, Hamilton Lane, Pomona, Montana, Harvourvest, Arcano, Partners Group, Alpinvest, Capital Dynamics, Landmark, Lexington, Portfolio Advisors
Tail-end: Hollyport, Overbay, Schroders
Euro lower mid-market: Unigestion, Mill Reef
US lower mid-market: RCP, Starmountain, Private Advisors
VC-only: Knightsbridge, Greenspring, Industry Ventures
Hedge: Multiplicity, Dorchestor
Is it possible for an mba ib associate to get into secondaries?
Are both of these sales roles?
FoF is an investing role where you invest in funds, placement agent is kinda like IB, but instead of marketing companies, you are marketing a fund to institutional LPs (think endowments, non-profit foundations, FoFs, family offices, pensions etc.)
Thanks, then given how different the career path is (sales vs investing) whether the OP should consider which of these two fields he/she is prefers/is good at.
What’s comp like in secondaries investing?
I was thrown a ton of MS recently for answering this.
At my firm:
Analyst - 100-120 base, 25-50% bonus allocation, no carry
Associate - 180-200 base, 75-100% bonus allocation, tiny bit of carry
VP - 250+, 100% bonus, carry, commissions
Principal - 350+, 100% bonus, carry, commissions
MD, 500+, 100-200% bonus, carry, commissions, firm ownership %
I'd say we pay above market and closer to tier 1 LBO rates
Thanks. Any idea what pay is like at harbourvest/Ardian/GS/Blackstone SP?
HI there, I am having interview with MSIM, i am keen to learn more about the shop.
Would you mind pm me for a chat?
Many thx.
Guessing it’s Eaton Partners
They have very good junior staff but not at the senior level. Not a good amount of deal volume so bonuses aren't that strong. Their one MD is too active shit posting on LinkedIn instead of bringing in mandates.
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