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just started, I think the intend to take 1-3 people a year like Bstone. Would take Cerberus or other buyside shops depending on his specific interests and offers over GS. Cerb just raised a huge distressed PE fund (5bn+) on top of their normal PE fund and HF unit (they run over 23bn now) and Feinberg started Cerb as a vulture fund. They will be plenty busy and are going to do well over the next 3 years. I had an offer there when deciding where to go after banking, but decided against them do the culture (they work incredibly hard and have a fairly tough culture). If he already has his outs, why take GS, it really doesn't give him much (if I had the choice, I would never have went to GS IBD, but I didn't have that luxury)

 

For the sake of clarity, you really need to differentiate between BofA and Citi. Citi is a top BB (full disclosure: I don't work there)who has some of the top groups on the street. Dealbreaker did an article not too long ago about how Citi's M&A group finished #2 behind Goldman last year and is now "neck and neck" with GS and MS M&A. They supposedly have one of the the best communications and chemicals groups on the street as well (see previous board discussions) and ran the books on the Blackstone IPO and got the nod for the KKR IPO (who knows when that will go down). In some of those groups, the PE/HF placement is probably comparable to some of the groups at GS. BofA isn't even a bulge bracket, so I doubt you'll see the kind of placement at some of the top groups at Citi, mid-range groups at GS.

 
paulsonator333:
For the sake of clarity, you really need to differentiate between BofA and Citi. Citi is a top BB (full disclosure: I don't work there)who has some of the top groups on the street. Dealbreaker did an article not too long ago about how Citi's M&A group finished #2 behind Goldman last year and is now "neck and neck" with GS and MS M&A. They supposedly have one of the the best communications and chemicals groups on the street as well (see previous board discussions) and ran the books on the Blackstone IPO and got the nod for the KKR IPO (who knows when that will go down). In some of those groups, the PE/HF placement is probably comparable to some of the groups at GS. BofA isn't even a bulge bracket, so I doubt you'll see the kind of placement at some of the top groups at Citi, mid-range groups at GS.

BAML isn't a BB? I would love to hear the logic behind that comment.

 

Is it common for groups to recruit directly for full time? I know that at least for the summer analyst programs, interns are accepted into a general pool and then group placement happens later. But, lets pretend I intern at Bank X but apply to Lehman for full time...will I have to apply to Lehman and hope for the best placement if I receive and accept an offer, or can I somehow go about applying for a specific group at Lehman?

Disclaimer: Lehman is used as a random example here...first bank that came to mind.

 
ibanking85:
Is it common for groups to recruit directly for full time? I know that at least for the summer analyst programs, interns are accepted into a general pool and then group placement happens later. But, lets pretend I intern at Bank X but apply to Lehman for full time...will I have to apply to Lehman and hope for the best placement if I receive and accept an offer, or can I somehow go about applying for a specific group at Lehman?

Disclaimer: Lehman is used as a random example here...first bank that came to mind.

Depends on bank.

 
GSBanker:
His choices:

Top IBD Group at GS Cerberus PE Other buyside firms

I didn't even know Cerberus recruited out of undergrad? Can someone confirm this?

I can confirm this. I interviewed with and was offered a job by Cerberus when I was going through recruiting a year ago. Ultimately turned them down and went to a top-tier bank. Was quite torn on the decision but I think I made the right one (I had a great feeling about group I was going into and haven't been disappointed one bit in first two months on jobs). Everyone's decision will be different, but I'd have some serious reservations about going into PE straight out of undergrad. As to person's question regarding where Cerberus recruited out of undergrad - there were maybe six or seven of us at the Superday (we were told it was the only Superday and I think they ultimately ended up extending offers to two of us), and the three schools I remember represented off-hand were Wharton, Princeton and Stern. May have been one or two other schools, I don't really remember, it was a year ago at this point. Hope that's helpful.

 
anon2007:
GSBanker:
His choices:

Top IBD Group at GS Cerberus PE Other buyside firms

I didn't even know Cerberus recruited out of undergrad? Can someone confirm this?

I can confirm this. I interviewed with and was offered a job by Cerberus when I was going through recruiting a year ago. Ultimately turned them down and went to a top-tier bank. Was quite torn on the decision but I think I made the right one (I had a great feeling about group I was going into and haven't been disappointed one bit in first two months on jobs). Everyone's decision will be different, but I'd have some serious reservations about going into PE straight out of undergrad. As to person's question regarding where Cerberus recruited out of undergrad - there were maybe six or seven of us at the Superday (we were told it was the only Superday and I think they ultimately ended up extending offers to two of us), and the three schools I remember represented off-hand were Wharton, Princeton and Stern. May have been one or two other schools, I don't really remember, it was a year ago at this point. Hope that's helpful.

Also, I was told last year that it was the first time they were hiring out of undergrad. And no I did not have any connections so the post above saying that connections are necessary to get a PE offer out of undergrad is off base. Obviously it's more difficult, but far from impossible (I also had an offer from a well-recognized hedge fund as further proof of possibility of going straight to buy-side should one so desire).

 

right that you cant apply to a specific group, but certain offers are group specific. i.e. you will apply to the bank, they will have you interview with a bunch of people, and then certain group(s) will extend you offers. so in other words you will know exactly what group you have an offer for before being required to sign on. its prolly about 50/50 in terms of group-specific vs. general offers across banks right now.

 

Gotcha - I was referring to the fund they're currently investing (Fund V, not Fund VI). A close friend of mine used to work for GSCP, but she's since left for the west coast and is currently at H&F. I'd be surprised to see whether the fund actually stays at $20 billion, particularly given that almost half that amount was GS-sponsored.

 
smuguy97:
Gotcha - I was referring to the fund they're currently investing (Fund V, not Fund VI). A close friend of mine used to work for GSCP, but she's since left for the west coast and is currently at H&F. I'd be surprised to see whether the fund actually stays at $20 billion, particularly given that almost half that amount was GS-sponsored.

With a google search, it looks like gs capital partners vi is the current one.

 
smuguy97:
Right, but they won't start spending fund VI until V is fully invested (or nearly fully invested, since some can be ear-marked for add-ons to fund V deals). The latest I heard was that there was still quite a bit of fresh powder in fund V - though this may no longer be the case...

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/client_services/merchant_banking/pia/capit…

Looks like V is fully invested.

So, you seem to have a good idea about this place from inside connections. Do you know what it is like to work for them vs another big name buyout shop?

 

At the analyst or associate level it’s really not that different from working for a large stand-alone PE fund. I have been told that at GSCP you have to put up with some annoying, internal issues related to conflicts of interest when targets are being represented by GS in some way, shape or form - this is why GSCP has historically played a more passive, participant role in buyout deals (i.e., riding side-car with a standalone fund). It will be interesting to see how / if this changes given that they're now looking to put more money to work.

 

plan to be a co-investors on large deals, and will only go lead on smaller deals (although this had been complicated with GS direct, which is GS's new middle market PE arm in jv with IBD that uses its own balance sheet money). Too bad there will be no more large deals, gl find enough $100mm PIPE and capital injection opportunities with $20bn and still keep up IRRs. Definitely not in the same league any more as the other mega-funds (they never get any of the top 2nd year analysts who leave GS for PE/HF's and don't have the cream of senior PE professionals, although not bad). You also look at a ton of deals (which suks) since a lot of other funds want them to team up on large bids rather than getting to drive the process. I know my friends at the other large funds have a lot more responsibility than their peers in PIA (plus they underpay). All that being said, there are worse places to be and it is till a very good first buyside opportunity to jump from after a couple of years.

 

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"One should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it, indeed, especially when one doesn't like it." - Charlie Munger
 

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