Hi all,
For some background, I'm currently coming up on my 1 year mark as an Associate at a MM PE Firm (~$1-5bn fund). Over the last year, there were 2-3 auction processes where I was on deals that went to LOI, where we ended up being the runner-up bid. Now, with the impact of COVID-19, deals have slowed / paused and it doesn't seem like we'll have as many opportunities to close deals due to deal flow / the leverage environment / the fact we can't meet management teams in-person. I'm worried that there is a very real possibility where I'm at my firm for another 1-2 years and don't close a deal.
How detrimental would it be to be an Associate with 2-3 years of experience with no PE deals closed, in regards to exit opps (e.g., lateral PE/buy-side recruiting, industry recruiting, b-school)?
How common / uncommon would it be to add deals where we got to LOI but did not close to my resume? I feel like we conducted most of our due diligence (e.g., completed business diligence, QoE analysis, purchase agreement mark-up, leverage reads and terms) and talk about these deals fairly well.
Thanks!
You can get through operational and financial due diligence, get to the legals stage and have the deal blow up last minute (speaking from personal sell-side experience). The number of deals you have closed does not provide any indication on how good of an associate you are.
I'd imagine an employer would rather have an associate with 0 closed deals, who can think critically about an investment thesis, highlight investment risks and has some portco operational experience (to help increase portco value) vs. an associate who doesn't have the above but has "closed" numerous deals.
On the buy-side it's not about the number of deals you close. It's about how to identify good investments, as well as the subsequent performance of said investment...