Terra Firma Second Round Interview

Hey Guys,

I have been invited to a 'Graduate Recruitment Presentation' at Terra Firma's London Office following a first round interview on campus.

The invitation says that the event will include a presentation on the business, a Q and A session and the opportunity to speak with employees from Analyst to CEO level, with drinks and canapes provided.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've never been to one of these events before that haven't been on campus.

 
analystforhire:
Tell them you only listen to music by artists and groups signed to EMI, and that you hold your deposits at Citi. This is an automatic advancement to the next round.

Time for a story....

Guy Hands and his advisers were going to kick Citi's arse but were scuppered by poor drafting of the governance docs. This is how: they were going to COMI shift EMI into France, use the French insolvency regime of Sauveguard to put a stay on enforcement so Citi couldn't accelerate on the company. However, Citi would have still been able to access the shares of EMI and own the business through that angle due to the double luxco structure. So, TF's advisors had organised for Citi to meet with Christine Lagarde (she's such a badass), who was willing to threaten Citi with taking away its French banking license if they were to enforce / accelerate their debt; after all, EMI, for all intense and purposes, was now a French business. Guy Hands loved it! However, since the rest of the board didn't like it / got cold feet they railroaded Guy and let Citi take the business.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
Oreos:
analystforhire:
Tell them you only listen to music by artists and groups signed to EMI, and that you hold your deposits at Citi. This is an automatic advancement to the next round.

Time for a story....

Guy Hands and his advisers were going to kick Citi's arse but were scuppered by poor drafting of the governance docs. This is how: they were going to COMI shift EMI into France, use the French insolvency regime of Sauveguard to put a stay on enforcement so Citi couldn't accelerate on the company. However, Citi would have still been able to access the shares of EMI and own the business through that angle due to the double luxco structure. So, TF's advisors had organised for Citi to meet with Christine Lagarde (she's such a badass), who was willing to threaten Citi with taking away its French banking license if they were to enforce / accelerate their debt; after all, EMI, for all intense and purposes, was now a French business. Guy Hands loved it! However, since the rest of the board didn't like it / got cold feet they railroaded Guy and let Citi take the business.

close enough.

 
Best Response

You may want to look into the above referenced litigation ahead of your meet and greet. I've heard from a few people that it may be a franchise ending event as a number of the LPs are unhappy about the EMI investment.

I did a good amount of work with Terra Firma a number of years ago. They are good people, but the organization is (was?) highly Guy Hands centric. He has an incredible amount of insight into the markets, but he is also a highly demanding task master. I know that he has somewhat changed his role in the organization due to LP pressure, but I'd be shocked if that really meant anything in regards to his day-to-day involvement. TF is clearly his shop.

Do a lot of research going into this process. There is plenty of public information available on TF. They have been highly successful through their first couple of funds, and I like their approach to complex investing situations. It will be interesting to see what happens with EMI now that they are past the litigation with Citi.

 

The evening went well and lasted a couple of hours.

The night kicked off with about 30 candidates being ushered into their board room where refeshments were provided. This was great as it gave us all the opportunity to have a chat. Interestingly, there were a diverse range of candidates; ranging from target schools with GS/MS IBD internship experience to non-target schools with unrelated experience.

The CEO gave a talk, so did the FD from the Operational/Strategy group and presentations were given by an MD in the deal team and the head of HR. A couple of Analysts also gave a talk.

Afterwards, everyone stayed behind and the whole event was quite chatty. Obsiously, the bulk of guys there cornered the CEO, but the TF reps were great.

Well worth it. Also, I have an electronic copy of the presentation if anyone is keen to look at it.

 
collector:
i got an invitation to some online (teamwork + social) tests, but never heard back afterwards...

Yeah, I think their recruiting is administered by Dartmouth Partners, which in my opinion at least, is probably the shittiest headhunting/recruiting agency in London or even Europe for that matter. I personally made only good experiences with them (so no grief talking here), but the way they carry themselves and assume that you as a candidate will always be available at their demand (be it on the telephone or in person) is ridiculous. In addition, I know from someone working there that their selection criteria don't have any real basis.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

Original OP here. I've had a lot of PMs about the process but would prefer to answer in this forum.

I never chose to proceed through the process as I didn't like the rotational nature of the programme. I interviewed there about a year after for a role in the deal team, so I'm probably more qualified to talk about that than the Grad process, but nonetheless ask away.

 
Clarkey:
Original OP here. I've had a lot of PMs about the process but would prefer to answer in this forum.

I never chose to proceed through the process as I didn't like the rotational nature of the programme. I interviewed there about a year after for a role in the deal team, so I'm probably more qualified to talk about that than the Grad process, but nonetheless ask away.

Do you have a rough timeline in your head when they started interviewing people for grad roles?

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 
Clarkey:
Original OP here. I've had a lot of PMs about the process but would prefer to answer in this forum.

I never chose to proceed through the process as I didn't like the rotational nature of the programme. I interviewed there about a year after for a role in the deal team, so I'm probably more qualified to talk about that than the Grad process, but nonetheless ask away.

So do they hire analysts outside of the grad program? Or do you have enough experience to be considered for an individual placement?

Also what were your perceptions of the firm? Did you gather there was a particular trait/quality they were looking for in their hires?

 
Matrick:
Has anyone advanced past the written test stage and has actually interviewed with them?

When did you have a written test? I only had to do an online situation test and a Verbal/Numerical test at their offices and then onto the interview stage. Is this after the interview?

 

I only completed the tests, which I took around late November. I haven't heard back since. Has anyone actually interviewed with them yet?

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 
Matrick:
I only completed the tests, which I took around late November. I haven't heard back since. Has anyone actually interviewed with them yet?

which tests did you do? The online SHL situation test or the SHL Math/Verbal test at the Terra Firma offices?

I have an interview with them this week.

 

I completed the situation test 3 weeks ago online, had a quick phone chat (with Emily) the week after and last week I completed the math/verbal test (also online), with the result being sent to the [email protected] email I have never been to their offices so far....
I guess that the real cut off will be at this stage. They told me that AC would be around mid-February...

So PEWannabe, you have an interview with Terra Firma? Congrats

 

I took the verbal/maths tests at the Terra Firma Office in London on 21st December. I've been invited to the Dartmouth Partners office for a one hour interview. Has anyone else been invited for this interview or knows what they will ask ask in it?

magd2643
 
Chelsea242:
I took the verbal/maths tests at the Terra Firma Office in London on 21st December. I've been invited to the Dartmouth Partners office for a one hour interview. Has anyone else been invited for this interview or knows what they will ask ask in it?

Wow pretty good, I haven't heard from anyone else who got an interview. Let us know how it goes.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

Hi Chelsea242, am preparing for interview at a PE firm in London and was wondering if you could tell a bit more about the verbal/maths tests you had. Starting with the math, is it about reading charts and tables and being able to calculate percentages, amounts, etc. , or is there some more complicated stuff (i.e. distributions, multiple equations, or so). Concerning the verbal part, do you get multiple questions relating to 1 piece of text? Thanks in advance for your help! Cheers

 

Is this is for a graduate role like Terra Firma or experienced hire? If it is the former, the maths tests I had for PE grad schemes were pretty simple. They were a mix of percentages, simple algebra, brainteasers and probability. There were also 2 simple IRR questions in one interview.

 

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