Is CRE Debt Experience Pretty Enough for PE?
To those senior chimps and chimpettes in RE PE, or anyone with any insight at all... hopefully any responses to this would be helpful for others looking to exit out of CRE debt.
I just passed 1.5 years at a boutique (45 empls, ~$7.5BB balance sheet) debt shop and thinking of exiting to PE. I think I have enough experience to be at least somewhat attractive to most shops, and the soft feedback I've gotten from general networking has been positive. For context, I'm on a team of 3 (me, VP, MD) and we've closed a proportionately very high volume of deals in both bridge and CMBS debt in nearly every asset class. Moreover, I imagine I have above-average responsibility/exposure as compared to analysts in traditional CMBS/LifeCo shops - but then again, how valuable is my incremental experience if at all? I have strong modeling skills and experience with wild business plans and timelines, but very little exposure to Argus (I took a two-day introductory crash course but no real on-the-job experience).
Some questions that linger as I get more serious about exiting:
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Would I have a shot at joining an acquisitions team or will I be relegated to AM?
- Does this vary by size/reputation of shop?
- Should I expect most PE shops to require AM experience before moving to acquisitions?
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What portion of gigs are a blend of both acquisitions and AM?
- Same as above - I imagine larger, more reputable firms would bifurcate into separate teams.
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I have limited Argus experience but don't use it for my day-to-day (we use our own internal excel models); Would a RE PE firm require expertise with Argus or can I anticipate a learning curve on the job?
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I currently make $80K base and am told to expect $40-$60K bonus for my first fiscal year; can I expect a bump in pay for my first year at PE?
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How many years at a firm is standard before I can expect an equity slice?
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Having only 1.5 years' experience since graduating undergrad in '18, would I be considered for an analyst or associate position?
- Varies by shop? Do responsibilities really differ that much?
Similar position as OP, I previously worked on CMBS originations for ~1.5 years and have recently transitioned into a relatively small albeit strongly growing REPE firm. Here are my 2 cents:
Hope these make sense to you, and happy to discuss further. Good luck!
What were your main talking points in the interviews? I am in cmbs originations now and don't plan to leave anytime soon, but curious as to how you made yourself stand out in the REPE interviews.
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