WSO Podcast | E167: MF Private Equity and Bulge Bracket Investment Banking in London
About
In this episode, member @yekino shares his interesting path to high finance. From attending a program in university that had him going to school in Italy, Hong Kong and California to breaking into a summer analyst role in London at a US bulge bracket investment bank, listen how he navigated each transition and his tips on recruiting as well as his thoughts on the differences between investment banking and megafund private equity in London.
WSO Mentor
Want to work with Yekino? Check out his profile here!
Or Listen to the Podcast Here:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Stitcher
Resources:
WSO Podcast (Episode 167) Transcript:
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:00:06] Hello and welcome. I'm Patrick Curtis, your host and chief monkey, and this is the Wall Street Oasis podcast. Join me! As I talked to some of the community's most successful and inspirational members to gain valuable insight into different career paths and life in general. Let's get to it. In this episode, member Yaquina shares his interesting path to high finance from attending a program in University that had him going to school in Italy, Hong Kong and California to breaking into a summer analyst role in London at a U.S. bulge bracket investment bank. Listen, how he navigated each transition and his tips on recruiting, as well as his thoughts on the differences between investment banking and mega fund private equity in London.
Yekino: [00:00:50] Enjoy.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:00:57] All right. Yaquina, thanks so much for joining the Wall Street Voices podcast.
Yekino: [00:01:02] Roderick, glad to be here, thank you for having me.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:01:05] It'd be great if you could just give the listeners a short summary of your bio. Absolutely. My pleasure.
Yekino: [00:01:12] I'm so born and raised in Italy originally, and then I moved to Study Business Administration for as a degree in a particular program that led me to study in three different continents across four years in a standard American four year degree and eventually gaining a business administration degree from one of each. Immediately after that, I joined a bunch of academic bracket bank in their investment banking team, joining after summer internship after my junior year. I stayed there for a little over one year where I had the chance to work on, mostly besides both for financial sponsor as well as for a strategic buy side. And after that, I left to join a mega fund and where I have been now for the last 14 15 months, focused on industrial and health care opportunities. Both my banking and private equity experience have been in London, where I am still currently based.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:02:23] Great. Perfect. I was going to ask Are you comfortable sharing with Citi and you beat me to it? So let's start all the way back at at your undergrad. So it was pretty unique program something where you got experience at three in three different continents, three different Universities around the world. Do you mind sharing kind of where you were not the exact schools, but just what countries? Yeah, absolutely. And I'd love to hear just the difference between them, like what you felt culturally versus like academic rigor versus where they all in English. Although of course, all the Yes, all in English, they're all in English. But can you talk a little bit about the culture and then the program itself, you know, to name it. But was it like one hundred kids, ten kids? What was it like? And then definitely in case in the case, our listeners or any of our listeners are interested in joining something similar happy to.
Yekino: [00:03:09] I think I joined you in the second batch of this program, so it was very new still, you know, smoothing out all the bureaucracy and all the all the challenges, obviously, of having the kids moving across. We were a batch of around forty five students, which were admitted around 15 from each of the three universities that we attended locations where Italy, Hong Kong and California and we moved together.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:03:41] And you say California was your favorite, right? The school?
Yekino: [00:03:44] Yeah, exactly which. Which I guess goes into into your previous points of differences across the different places. I don't know if there is also a factor that California was the first year. So during the following years, you always also looked back at it with a bit of nostalgia and you're like, Oh, the good old days. You know the old days
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:04:06] Before things got serious with job search and all that?
Yekino: [00:04:09] Exactly. As a freshman, as a freshman with so as a freshman, you were in California in the year and then you transitioned where to Italy next quarter to to Hong Kong and then Italy junior year. But I think your question was exactly on point because probably what I would say, the greatest value I had of the program in my academic experience was not as much in the classrooms or the textbooks because I think at the end of the day, the theoretical part can be learned even online. But it was
really in understanding how different places, how different cultures and how different education systems worked in three different places. And it was absolutely polar opposites. So my first, my first year in the U.S., it was it was very much a more practical approach with lots of group meetings, lots of presentation, public speaking, you know, getting ahead of just what, then probably a real work setting would be like. And then a less focus on just academic knowledge, memorization and just test based quizzes and all the rest. And then it was quite different in Hong Kong, which was basically the opposite. And people were starting day and night to make sure that they know they knew everything to the decimal and to the latest footnote of the book, because that was what the final grade would have been focused on. And then Italy was probably a bit of the mix, but still more skewed towards academics than group projects. Interesting.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:05:56] So the most public speaking in the U.S.?
Yekino: [00:06:00] Yes, as well as teamwork. And so then your senior year, you get to decide where you go. That is exactly right out of the
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:06:07] Forty five kids. How many decided to go to the U.S.?
Yekino: [00:06:11] One, if I remember correctly, I think there were four or five split between Hong Kong and why do you think that is?
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:06:20] You think it is more competitive than the other in Hong Kong probably is not as much fun? Or was it weather or was it just the background? Or I mean, because if that money came from those foods, even initially right, 15 games
Yekino: [00:06:34] Around each uni gets to recruit around 15 students for the whole four forty five. So you have 15 from the Americas, 15 from
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:06:44] So is it the American? It was easier for everybody to do well there and they could have a life or what was the thought?
Yekino: [00:06:52] I think I think there is a bit of a factor in that maintaining my GPA in Hong Kong required more labor than what it did in the US. I think there is also a factor of the US being the first year. So, you know. The nostalgia factor, you talked about change with this constant change, you want to change again after the third year, and so you go back to the first one, which is the one that you probably missed the most or is fresh in your mind if you want to put it that way. The weather, obviously, it's nice summer time all year round. Yeah. And yeah, I think given the nature of the program, the type of students that it attracted, I think most of us were more inclined to what I was saying earlier on. Just challenging ourselves with group based projects and more real life scenarios simulations rather than just going back to the library and memorize some more books.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:07:59] So if I'm looking at this correctly, you were in Italy during your junior year, but tell me how the recruiting where you're thinking investment banking from the beginning? And how did you prepare yourself knowing that your sophomore year you were in Hong Kong? Were you starting to kind of reach out to people knowing that you would be in Italy the following year?
Yekino: [00:08:18] So I think that worked out relatively well for me being being Italian. I always assumed that I would have ended up working, at least in Europe. And so the fact that my junior year was in Italy. I could recruit for Europe in the closest of the locations. So that made sense. And I think here is where the recruiting differences between the US and in Europe become a bit more apparent, as I think the networking weight and overall application is much more prominent in the US rather than in Europe. So here at the end of the day. Sure, the fact that you can name drop a couple of people might give you a small boost, but I would say it's relatively small as the process is very much structured. And if I think about my investment banking analyst class or what I have seen in the following year as I was on the other side, and so I was recruiting the number of people that were getting in because of a referral because they knew somebody was very, very small and everybody was still having to go through the website application. So the fact that my sophomore year was in Hong Kong didn't impact me much
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:09:36] Like it's good. So you're kind of starting your junior year in Italy and then tell me a little bit about that whole process. Was it technical interviews? Were you flying to London to do this or was it all done on campus and you came from a target in Italy, so you probably did have some on campus recruiting, I assume.
Yekino: [00:09:54] Yeah, there was some, some campus recruiting, but it was mostly informational as in more of a marketing pitch by the banks, rather than actually having a having a, you know, an acceleration in the recruiting process. Because at the end of day, I still went through every application portal online and the recruiting really varied depending on the banks. Some of them have the first line on the phone second round in their Milan office and then third round, which was the final assessment centre in London. Or some of them were like the one that I ended up joining. Just call me straight up saying we have an assessment centre next weekend. Can you make it as though it was one single round? The fact that actually the final one
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:10:51] And you would fly, you'd have to fly to London
Yekino: [00:10:52] For that? Exactly. Yeah, the final round is always anyways in London,
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:10:58] So it's just an assessment centre thing. Or do you actually had to do like Super Day type thing where you're meeting with people there?
Yekino: [00:11:04] So I think that the assessment centre is a bit of both because it's a series of interviews at the end of the day. So it's not an entire day, it's a half day we have. And the one that I did at least had a numerical test case that a group case study with other three students they were interviewing on that day. Let's talk about that.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:11:26] The group case study. That's got to be stressful. That's like they do that in business school now, applications. Tell me about that. Like, how did that go? What did they ask you?
Yekino: [00:11:35] Yeah, it's really an odd dynamic ride because you need to balance being proactive and showing that you can be a leader in the room and show your opinion with, at the same time being careful to not oppress other people's opinions. It's really a fine balance between showing leadership and being a team player in what is a 30 minute setting with three people that you have never met in your life and where there is no right or wrong answer. So for example, in that case, study was we were given. Three options on where to open a new branch of the bank, and we were asked to pick one, so also something probably that we would now be faced on our first few years on the job.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:12:22] Um, and did they give you some statistics or some numbers around where you should open a branch or like what? It was like a full on case, like a marketing consulting case, and you had to basically give reasons. Was there any disagreement with your people or did everyone kind of cohesively decide where it open?
Yekino: [00:12:40] Yeah, we were given a few statistics, like distance from the city center, distance from recruiting areas, commute opportunities to get there and all the likes. I can't remember exactly now if there was strong disagreement, but I do remember that within 15 minutes, the team we had 30 minutes total within half of the time, me and the other students ended up picking one location so that we could spend the remaining 15 minutes deciding on how to present it and how to justify our choice. Because, as I said, there is no right or wrong answer. Every location was excellent on something and poor and something else. It was just about what do we want to prioritize and how do we justify that? That is our prioritization.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:13:32] Got it. Did you feel like were you the one of the first ones to speak up or did you kind of let somebody else take the lead and then kind of gradually come in? What would you and what would you suggest candidates that find themselves in these very, very stressful kind of odd group dynamic interviews? What do you suggest they do?
Yekino: [00:13:49] The advice that I got at the time was to not push to be the leader in the room because it can come off wrong from who's looking at you? Because, yeah, maybe I forgot to say there are the three people that are going to interview you later are just sitting there at the back of the room and looking at the entire thing, just like a Big Brother TV show sort of thing just to enhance it with the awkwardness of the situation. And so I follow that advice. And I was just, you know, trying to be proactive and putting my voice out there. But, you know, never becoming coming off too strongly. Or, as you say, I was trying to speak second rather than speak first. And it worked out well for me. I got the offer the same as I was leaving the
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:14:36] Venue, one of the only three people that got the room
Yekino: [00:14:40] Out of out of the three people in the room. Yes, I accepted them. I don't know if the other
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:14:47] The other two didn't end up with you in the summer. Exactly. So you were given an offer, right, as you're walking out of the room?
Yekino: [00:14:54] I got a call right away as I was getting to the airport. Yes.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:15:00] That's awesome. That's awesome. That's pretty exciting for you, I'm sure. So you kind of. Ok, so you did the numerical test as well, which I know there are drills and there are sites that help you kind of prep for that. You're doing that, you felt good, you did the group setting, was that it and then were there any meetings with one on one with the bankers or two on one?
Yekino: [00:15:18] Yes, you said half day one. Like the three people that were the case study, it then interviewed you back to back.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:15:26] And this was junior. This was your junior year like during the fall before summer. Like?
Yekino: [00:15:31] Exactly. We are talking about September, October.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:15:36] Ok, so you. Did you have other offers or other interviews lined up in London?
Yekino: [00:15:42] Um, yes, I had a few situations that we're moving forward all about brackets, maybe. And here's something that I constantly debate like where how loyal do you need to be with these things? I try to push the other, the other interviews faster after I got the offer to see if I could try to get some leverage within the period that I had to sign my first offer. Again, maybe this is a different with the US as I got the feeling that here the programs are a bit more structured, as I was saying earlier, like less referral, much more application bays and all the lights. And so effectively, the other firms said we haven't started assessment centres yet. The first one is in three weeks.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:16:32] Right. And how much you had two weeks to accept
Yekino: [00:16:35] Exactly two weeks to sign my offer. So the things we're not going to align, I was happy with the offer I got at the end of day American bulge bracket, not tier one, but it was good enough that I did not want to risk, you know, ending up with nothing in my hands and I just signed and they cancel the other interviews.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:17:02] Yeah, was saying in the U.S., I don't know if you've heard the saying bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Yekino: [00:17:06] Exactly. Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:17:08] So you had the offer in hand, so you took it. And did you accept on the spot or you waited a little bit? So if you can maybe accelerate things and it just didn't work out, so then you accept it?
Yekino: [00:17:18] Yeah, exactly. I tried to accelerate with the others. They told me that look not happening, OK, they're not at the final stage with anybody yet. So we can't bring because of the team settings, Right? Like they need. Multiple applicants to be at the assessment centre stage at the same time, and they said we don't have enough candidates to push an assessment centre forward at this for the next three weeks. So that's why I ended up signing.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:17:47] So then as you get there, so you finish up your junior year. In Italy and kind of probably feeling good because you have a summer internship lined up, but are you stressed out? What's your feeling going into the summer internship and then tell me a little bit about how the summer progressed in London? You had never lived in London, I assume, and it was another new city. Yes, now an American bulge bracket bank and in London, what was that like?
Yekino: [00:18:12] It was exciting, you know? I think the summer internship you have, you have a clear goal at the end, so you don't mind the hours of the work or anything, or even if the full timers try to scare you and they're like, Oh yeah, I haven't slept in two weeks. And you're just like, Oh, that sounds awesome, right? That's exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:18:35] And so how bad were the hours rule when that summer?
Yekino: [00:18:40] Well, I can't really complain because some of the summer internship was protected actually, and it was actually like the restrictions were actually strictly followed by everybody. So there was absolutely no we can work and no work past midnight. So.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:18:57] And I think that was that was especially stringent in the bank. Yeah, because Well, I think this was closer to a time when there had been some stuff going on in the mid teens 2000s where there had been some deaths in London at certain banks. And so like both in the U.S. and in London, I think they had this is kind of when around the period when everyone started doing all these different programs, like pencils down on Friday, like no Saturdays and all this stuff and even protection for the interns, right? So you're saying it was it was strictly followed that summer. So that makes a huge difference. So you're working, probably. You know, 15 hour days Monday through Friday, but then no, we really didn't even come in the office on the weekend.
Yekino: [00:19:44] Absolutely, I remember clearly one associate emailing air asking if I could work the weekend on an RFP that was due the Monday after in the air replying Absolutely not. This is not allowed. The intern cannot be working on the weekend.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:20:06] Oh, my gosh, that's amazing. I wondered, have you heard anything lately, if that's still the case, if it's as strict? I know, because I know, at least on Wall Street Oasis we've been seeing with COVID, we've been seeing huge swell of complaints and from the junior side and people pushing back on some of the things that aren't being protected aren't being enforced. And so, you know, Goldman increasing the pay, everyone's increasing the pay now across the board or doing something to try and make the juniors happier because COVID was especially tough work from home. So. Have you felt like it's soften in the cause? You were there, what, four or five years ago? So has it softened? Has it been?
Yekino: [00:20:51] Well, my internship was four years ago, but then I was there until effectively two years ago when I was working full time and when I was full time, the restriction, the protection for the interns were still very much enforced. Wow. We didn't have like my bank did not have any protection for full timer.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:13] Oh, rough.
Yekino: [00:21:14] So only as interns.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:17] So there's the full time analyst are still getting it pretty good in terms of hours, like 90 plus hours a week.
Yekino: [00:21:24] Yeah, yeah. The full package, although I think I think that's up for discussion, whether, in my opinion, whether having Saturdays off is actually beneficial. Because having Saturdays off then implies that Sunday is part of the week.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:21:38] It's like an 18 hour workday.
Yekino: [00:21:40] Exactly. Whereas and even if you even if you don't really have that much at that point, Sundays as part of the week because your weekend has been narrowed down to Saturday. Whereas in places that have no restrictions, such as the place where I was at, if you have little to do, you can either balance it out whenever you prefer Saturday or Sunday. And if you have absolutely nothing to do, then you get the entire weekend and you can just travel around because Sunday, you're like, you're not on call anyways. Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:22:11] It almost forces Sunday to be used because people are feel like they're going to lose that, then the seniors aren't going to have that Saturday to work, so they make sure you're busy on Sunday. Exactly. So yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, up for debate, I guess. Yeah, that is interesting. So tell me a little bit about London like nightlife. Was it fun? Was it different? I mean, you had travelled to Italy, you'd been in Hong Kong, you've been in California. What was it like? I mean, you're now in a
Yekino: [00:22:37] Big city training in New York.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:22:38] So training in New York was a party, I'm sure.
Yekino: [00:22:41] Exactly. So can compare from a few places.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:22:44] What did you think? Because I know London. I mean, I trained in London at Rothschild, and it was a real fun time out there. I'm sure was, yeah, what was it like? I knew they had those. I can't remember they're called the clubs or whatever in London. Was it something where you guys were there, like every weekend in the summer when you were your summer analyst since you weren't working? I mean, I can't imagine it must been amazing.
Yekino: [00:23:08] Yeah, exactly. And I think it's like the comparison I can make across cities is not entirely fair because obviously the budget for night out has increased over time.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:23:20] Very different when you were a freshman, right in California versus when you were a summer analyst. Yeah, but tell me a little bit about whatever. Was it fun in London?
Yekino: [00:23:28] Absolutely. I love the city. I think I think there is a place for every hour of the night, so there is never a risk of being bored here. I think we have found like a group of friends that found our favorite place to go to circle a square if anybody goes to London. Yes, I'm doing marketing for them right now, but I think it's totally worth it. It's a bit odd. They have a show midway, but I think that's a bit common for London clubs to have like
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:24:07] A show, a performance in the middle of it.
Yekino: [00:24:09] Exactly like the higher end clubs do, whether it's Cirque, the box or a tape, which are like a trio of famous clubs here in London, they all have performances in the middle and here I think similar to New York, the clubs close at around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.. But then obviously there is the after party places. I must say personally, I don't go as much because like, I think that's where I draw the line between having fun and being able to function. The next day you get a call comes in. But yeah, London is also really good for that, and there are a few that have been once or twice. And so if you want a full night to see the sunrise definitely can stay out until then. And then we have the twenty four hour Brexit breakfast places. Favourite one duck and waffle, which is under 40. Third floor of the Salesforce Tower and has a great sunrise view, so if you need to go back to the office, it's a great place to
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:25:17] Some good tips, some good tips here for people who are going to London for the first time. Awesome. That's cool, yeah, so I never I mean, I never worked in London, so this is all new to me, but yeah, tell me a little bit about just so you had a real fun time during your summer analysts that didn't have to work as crazy hours and you go back for senior year to California, correct? That's correct. And so again, another big move and you're basically out there. It's having a great time because you've got a full time offer, I assume, at the end of your summer internship. Exactly. And so tell me about all the brain damage you've done to yourself with all the party you had for the last two years. Just kidding. So tell me a little bit about just tell me a little bit about that. That kind of going into senior year was something where you accepted right on the spot once they gave you the offer or was it something where you tried again, leverage or trade up?
Yekino: [00:26:13] I didn't try to leverage my full time offer, I thought at that point I was comfortable with the bank and the team that I was joining in. I liked the thought of joining people that I already knew and had already worked with. That was giving me some security, some sense of security for when I start had to join full time rather than having to build again everything from scratch if I were to go to a different bank. So I signed in a couple of days just, you know, just the time to put my things in order. And then, yeah, as you were correctly hinting, it was probably the best year of my life. Very little concerns about anything because job was secure. I wanted to keep my GPA because that was important to me. But again, I thought that the US school system was a bit easier, maybe than the other two. So I was in the in the right place to give the GPA with minimal effort. And yeah, the point was just about enjoying my time there and creating memories. So yeah, lots of parties I travelled around a bit, obviously went to Vegas.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:27:32] Nice. You play poker. Do you play poker?
Yekino: [00:27:35] Let's just say no. If anybody then challenges me, I have an excuse for how to play. Ok, so you're bowl games, tailgating? Love that entire aspect of the US education that just for sure bring to Europe because it's amazing for sure. For sure. So you,
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:27:56] You graduate and you immediately kind of move back to London for full time? Or how does how was your transition there? And then tell me a little bit about the when the reality of the lifestyle hit you, working the hours because you have your a little bit protected as an intern, that protection is gone. Was it like a big shock, like two months in, three months in? You're out of training? Talk to me a little bit about that. And then just the training itself where you do feel like you were able to ramp up quickly because you had enough financial modeling, training and all that good stuff.
Yekino: [00:28:26] Absolutely. Yeah, you're right. So graduating May 18, I go back home for just a couple of weeks and then mid-June I leave for London to drop my stuff and we are all flown out to New York for a month or so of training and partying mostly. But I think during training, I had a bit of an advantage in the sense that I came from a summer internship. I still I didn't study finance per say, but still business or somewhat related. I have an understanding of the broader financial aspects and as well, obviously using the very helpful guides and courses from Wall Street raises. I thought I was in a good spot when I started, when I started day one, the
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:29:15] Job we didn't have, our financial modeling training launched yet. But there you had the interview courses and whatnot back there. So that's good. That's good that we were. We were helpful. Ok, yeah.
Yekino: [00:29:25] The guides, the guides were crucial. I think I probably passed my accounting exam mostly because of the accounting guides rather than the book. So I think I think that like it really prepared for the interview and then some understanding as well of the job that was that was helpful. But as you said then, yeah, like we had quite a. Hated the reality wall all of the hours quite soon I was leaving, I was living with my flatmate, was also an intern with me and then was starting full time together with me.
And on day four of the job, so we started on Monday. On Thursday, he doesn't come back home and I see him again on Friday at the bank on Friday morning, so. So he got as the hours are not protected anymore. Reality check quicker than me.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:30:28] He pulled his first all nighter in day four. Exactly. Wow.
Yekino: [00:30:33] Whereas for me, I think it was a bit more of a dick. I never did the real all night. From the latest that I left, the bank was five and a half and then be back around 10. So not sure where you categorise that, but I still did pretty well for a couple of hours and sleep. And funnily enough, I did instead have an all nighter after the buy side, so I'm not sure if it's.
Patrick (CEO of WSO):: [00:31:05] Ok, so you're working on some deals, you're getting some live deal experience. Tell me about the private equity recruiting process in London, how it worked out for you. You know, through the traditional recruiting channels, was it through another channel and you got a megaphone now? So I'd love to just hear what that process, because I know in the U.S. there's on cycle, whereas in London it seems to be a little bit much or significantly later.
Yekino: [00:31:28] Yeah, like I hear from friends in the U.S., they have a buy side offer after their internship and before they have even started the job, which is something here definitely doesn't. At least I've never heard
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:31:42] It to over two years out.
Yekino: [00:31:44] Exactly. I think here is a more of let's say I don't know what the exact word is, but let's say tailored to this part, like the recruiting process or we need somebody and usually is or we need somebody that speaks this language. And so they start the recruiting for that. But it's not that they planned recruiting and have somebody joining twelve or twenty four months down the line. And that is exactly how it happened for me. Super standard recruiting process. I was approached by recruiting agencies because here it's all through intermediaries
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:32:23] Who are the big ones out there.
Yekino: [00:32:25] Um, so I think the ones that I had a good experience with key consultants, probably market leaders in junior placements, Walker hamill also has some, some good positions. Blackwood also has more and more PR. I think coming up recently, those are the three that are on top of my head right now. Sure, sure. He is the one that placed me. That reached out saying that my fund was having a breakfast event. They put forward CVS to the fund, the fund and invites, you know, twenty five thirty people, we go there, there is a bit of presentation, some food that's going to be
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:33:14] A little bit awkward, like, are you forced to eat breakfast or pretend like you're eating?
Yekino: [00:33:18] Yeah, you're there like sipping your coffee and deciding whether it's almost like, Oh, if I eat the croissant, then I can't speak. But then if I'm not eating breakfast and speaking to anybody,
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:33:30] There's crumbs all over your suit. Yeah, yeah. I always find that's awkward. Like, you almost need to eat beforehand so you don't need to eat there and just drink coffee or whatnot.
Yekino: [00:33:42] It's curious that you mentioned now I can't remember if I ate anything or not. I surely had a coffee, though.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:33:49] Yeah, I think the adrenaline of the whole situation probably
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:33:51] Keep you going for a while. But so, yeah, tell me about what that what was that breakfast, that breakfast like? So you said twenty five to thirty people, how many spots are they looking to fill, like five or three to just two? Wow. So it's super competitive. So how do you even get that? I mean, you've landed one, but do you know those numbers going into this or is it super intimidating when you get there and it's like almost 30 kids going for two spots?
Yekino: [00:34:15] Well, I think there is there is a bit of class of people then deciding it's not the thing for them. So out of those 30, how many of them are actually then going to go through the recruiting process and how many of them then get the offer?
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:34:29] I would assume pretty high, though I would assume like 80 percent of them, right?
Yekino: [00:34:34] Possibly. Like I knew one guy when I go to the breakfast, I only knew one other person from another bulge bracket. And after we chatted, it was like, Yeah, this is not for me. And then because he decided to go more for a growth fund.
Got it. So yeah, I would assume that lots of people tried to get out, go and go to private equity. But for example, like in in that instance, the guy was looking for a different opportunity.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:34:59] So you didn't finish your two years at both bracket because was this just a surprise offer? You'd have to be opportunistic and take it when it comes. I think I've heard in London it's typically after two or three years at the bank that you recruit, so this seemed like an early jump more than at least earlier than typical.
Yekino: [00:35:15] And what's mine was an early jump. Yes, I think. I think in London it's it used to be three years, and then obviously banks have shortened the analyst program to two years. I think all bulge brackets in London now are on a two year stint and therefore I was also by side. Recruiting has shifted a bit earlier because at the end of day, like compensation from analysts to entry level in the buy side from analysts at the bank to intervene in the buy side is a massive jump from associate at bank. Given all the bonuses that are staggered in a 12 month period with your promotion, your analyst two bonus your promotion bonus your stop bonus in December because your bonus cycle shift from summer to year end. Yeah, pay jump to associate and then immediately after again, the full time bonuses associated. It's a lot of money coming in a 12 month period. So I think obviously the buy side also had to shift earlier the recruiting because
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:36:21] I want you to start. They didn't want you to start having this golden handcuffs and be stuck in banking or as much. Exactly. But I mean, that's pretty shortsighted for people to stick around and certainly in banking, if they really want to do by side, it's such a, you know, it's a different role. It's just a different job, right?
Yekino: [00:36:35] I agree entirely, I think. I think it's the two jobs are not really comparable. Even the excel modeling is entirely different. Like I found that the most complex model that I built while I was an analyst at the bank is to is probably 10 times simpler than anything that would build for round two here, like just the level of granularity and the level of understanding that you need to have on any single assumption. You really need to be able to justify it because at the end of the day, that's
that's your also your money. If you can invest in the fund. But it's important.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:37:15] Yeah, it's very different when you're putting numbers together for a client where it's not your own money versus at an omega fund. You want to make sure every number is correct and you're actually looking at things, doing the revenue, build up properly, doing all the looking at all this, every single assumption, turning it over. So that's interesting. You say they excel. You know, some people would say private equity funds, the modeling is less important. It's more about like the investment thesis and the, you know, on getting through running the diligence streams and all of that stuff. Would you say that obviously the PowerPoint is probably less important, right? It doesn't matter how pretty it is and what matters is if it's right or not, right?
Yekino: [00:37:50] Yeah, that's entirely right. And I also agree with your point that at the end of the day. Doing the proper diligence and understanding an opportunity commercially is what's going to make or break a deal. If you missed an item in the QE or, you know, if
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:38:13] Qe buying quality of earnings.
Yekino: [00:38:16] Exactly, exactly. Sorry.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:38:17] Yeah, that's fine. Just for the listeners you don't know. Yeah.
Yekino: [00:38:21] If you miss an item there
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:38:23] And explain what is the quality earnings to just basically an accounting firm will do an analysis of the earnings of the revenue of everything all the way down to make sure that it's legitimate? Is that basically what it is?
Yekino: [00:38:33] Yeah, mostly at the level is where we focus on just to make sure that there are the jump off point on the data you're taking. And so the profitability of the business is representative because particularly now with COVID, it's like it's difficult to take the last 12 months performance of business. And just saying that that's representative of how it's going to perform over a five year investment horizon period. Some business benefited, some business obviously didn't. And it's important to get to what could be a run rate scenario and where the business could go from today.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:39:10] Yeah, really interesting. So tell me a little bit more. What else is different? What about the what about the difference? Talk a little bit about the culture shift from banking to private equity and what you felt like was the hardest part of the transition for you.
Yekino: [00:39:24] Oh, that's a good one. I do think that the culture is very different, I think you're probably being a smaller office, smaller team when you compare it to a bank. There is more of a humanization of the people around you and the understanding that there is more to life than work even at the junior level.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:39:51] And so, so your hours are about 60 to 70 there.
Yekino: [00:39:56] I guess I would say that's fair. Yeah, OK. But I think the difference is also in the quality of the hours, right? So for example, with the other associates for lunch, we all go out and, you know, then eat together. So you take half an hour, one hour out, whereas at the bank, it was all. We're taking takeaways and we are eating at the desk, all by ourselves in our own cubicles, right? That sort of thing. So it's not just it's not just about the quantity of the hours, but the quality of those hours. And that's what I meant when you know, a bit more social interactions at the office. Although I must say that one thing that most banks do and I haven't seen, at least in my fund or I don't know if is just a generalization for other busy places as well. For example, a Friday Friday drinks is not really a thing, at least in my fund, whereas at the bank it was like there was just a common understanding. At six p.m., everybody was leaving, meeting at the square, at the at the bar, at the pub, where all teams from the bank were going for a pint and then going back to the office, obviously. But that was something that we had at the bank.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:41:15] Whereas here was it a pint or was it four pints? And then trying to get back to the where? I wouldn't be able to work if I had more than a pint, even if I had a pint wouldn't. Don't the analysts like fall asleep after a pint?
Yekino: [00:41:24] But exactly it depends how much work you have to do and how good self-control you have. But you can
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:41:29] Imagine I can't even imagine if you're all three hours sleep having a pint in like six p.m. after dinner. Like, my face would just smash on the keyboard.
Yekino: [00:41:37] I did remember a couple of times where I was having maybe two or three pints too many, and then as I was finishing my last one, I was delivering like, I don't know, two pizzas to the office to get the carbs, to just go around quickly and then finish what I had to do. Those are what we were saying before the good old days. It always worked out fine.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:42:02] Very cool. So what's? Talk to me a little bit about kind of what's next? I mean, you're at a mega fund. I know it's very tough to move up, get promoted. What are the typical paths that people would talk about exit opportunities from investment banking to private equity? But then people rarely talk about the the exit paths from private equity. I mean, obviously the dream for a lot of people is to kind of just move up with the fund as it grows, as they raise more capital to become a, you know, a director or a principal than a director than a partner eventually. But tell me a little bit about what's in in your what's your thought? Is it? Are you thinking this is a path to something else? Is this a path to stay around for a long run?
Yekino: [00:42:41] Absolutely. I think I would like to stay around. As you were hinting before, the traditional structure for private equity is two years up or out. And my fund is the same, though my two years is coming up at the end of twenty one. And so then it's when I will have to make a decision or will be forced to make a decision if things were not to work out in my favour, unfortunately.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:43:08] How much time do they give you to make that decision? Because if you're only seven months away?
Yekino: [00:43:14] So in seven months, they'll they'll give me the notice and then I have six months of where the employment is still ongoing. And it's common understanding that I will obviously be looking for other things.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:43:29] And what is what are typically megaphone private equity associates that don't get the offer to continue? What are they typically go on to do out of London?
Yekino: [00:43:39] So what the recruiters have told me, and I am sure that this is bias on their own interests is that it's not uncommon for associates to switch fund after two years, both whether they received or not, the opportunity to continue their current fund. Obviously, if they haven't, then they need to change if they want to stay in the industry, whereas what they were, what the recruiters were saying is lots of people jump at the buy side, the first buy side opportunity because they want to get out of the bank and then in their two years, they realize maybe the investment strategy is not the right fit for them or they want to move at a different stage of maturity of companies. And so after two years, they take the opportunity to change to a different fund that is more aligned with what they want to do long term. Mm hmm. But I like I like my current fund. I like the culture I like. I like what we do. I like the people, so hopefully I will be able to stay in that case. I'm not sure whether I'm, you know, I'm going to be happy until I die, but. But definitely for the foreseeable future.
Patrick (CEO of WSO):: [00:44:54] How do you think you get that off or how do you get that offer to stay? And as a private equity associate, do they just call you a senior associate at that point or they call your principal typically? I don't know. It's different on my phone. But in your third after that second year, if they at the end of the year, they say we'd like you to stay or do they say usually we like to stay for a third year? Do they say we'd like to stay two more years? They say we'd like you to be on a partner track. How does it what's that conversation typically look like if you heard?
Yekino: [00:45:19] And so I think at that point, as the contract becomes an ongoing basis. So there is there is no promise either way. And I think at that point is really performance based. So you perform, you continue moving up, you slightly perform or you know how to put it, then maybe you're a bit park. Yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:45:40] How do they even judge you? How do they even judge you? I think it's so I just think it's so political at the, you know, assuming you're not messing up the numbers, assuming you're a friendly person. You know, if there's, let's say, 10 associates, megaphone associates that are going through. The reality is what? Only two or three of them are going to be moving on. Right.
Yekino: [00:46:01] Or is it more? Yeah. Look, I totally agree with you, I think the generally and I'm not sure whether it's just the associate level, I think the reviewing process is a bit flawed because everybody is different and you're just trying to rank people that maybe cannot be rank together because my strengths are your weaknesses and your weaknesses are my strengths. So in the eyes of whether ranks you and I together, if he cares more about a is going, I thank you first. If he cares more about B, he's going to thank me. But the reality is that we should both be ranked the same and work together because we are complementary to each other. But I think we're moving a bit of an in a utopia scenario, I think.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:46:50] I think it's tough, yeah, I think it's really tough to know how to actually rank. Associates, because a lot of them are going to have all the technical skills are going to be running deals. I guess maybe it's a little bit of like how much of a leadership you take on specific deals like deals. You get placed on a little bit of luck in terms of whether those deals did well or not. Who knows? Yeah, I think
Yekino: [00:47:10] I think it's very interesting that you touch on that. One comment that I heard is making a deal changes your career both internally and externally. But if you really think about it as an associate, making a deal is it's not exactly within my powers I can do. I can do my best on it. But then I'm not going to be the one to pull the trigger at the end or that pushes it through. I see. Right. So yeah.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:47:37] Very cool. Anything else you'd like to share with the listeners before we call it? Any other words of wisdom kind of looking back on your career and your past so far?
Yekino: [00:47:46] Um, well, maybe since I'm looking at a friend who's recruiting right now and I'm seeing the difficulties and challenges that that she's having is probably just really to think about where you want to be and what you want to do and the reasons why you want to do to make the change. I think lots of people may have this idealized
perception of the buy side as the greener pastures where money just flows into your pocket. The hours are absolutely nine to five only Monday to Wednesday, and they serve the oyster and shrimping lunch and dinner. The reality is obviously still a lot of work. It's very stressful. Like, I think it's the level of responsibility you're given is higher from day one compared to what it was, at least for me at the bank. And the type of work is also very different. And I think the work, the word exactly is different. It's not necessarily better. It's just whether it's more aligned with what you want to do in your life and who you want to be and what sort of work. So I think the only word of advice that I would give anybody who is in banking or consulting and think about making you move to private equity is just,am I doing it for the right reasons? Have I thought about the differences from my current job to the next one? And lastly, just look around like different funds are very different, both in terms of culture, philosophies, the way they look at opportunities, as we were saying before, like, sure, excel is important. There are some funds that are purely commercially driven, so I agree. Maybe there excel are really simple and some other funds that are very much that work around lots of financial engineering to make the returns. And so in that sense, it's going to be a lot of number-crunching excel. So not all by side is the same, and not necessarily the buy side is better than the current job.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:50:06] So yeah, it's great, great advice. You had mentioned money growing on trees or money getting thrown at you left. Can we talk about pages for a second before we call it? So you're coming in, you kind of missed your second bonus, your analysts think, because I think you left early. But was the pay you might share just around at least in pounds, what it was there? And then kind of the pay bump coming up to private equity associate and you can give a range you're not to give exact.
Yeah, sure. I regarding my bonus, I left after two months, one
Yekino: [00:50:37] Month and a half, two months of my year, one being paid, so I didn't accrue much. So it wasn't really a concern for me. As you were saying before now, everything got bumped up, and so my statistics from my investment banking analyst are a bit outdated and I can give exact figures because I think everybody knows and there are surveys and their publics.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:51:00] Yeah, and we have the company database that has all the data in there. People are if listeners want to go take a look, but what was it for you like? My first year was 50 50 thousand Baze pounds and
Yekino: [00:51:12] The second one was sixty thousand. I think now that is being moved up by 10 percent or so at the bank from the latest conversation with people there and bonus as an analyst could go up to 100 percent. I don't know anybody ever got more than 100 percent, but I know that the
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:51:35] 30 to 50 thousand pounds around there. Yeah, OK. Ok. And then what about private equity?
Yekino: [00:51:44] So my current fund is north American, based in my salaries, fixed in USD with the conversion rate that changes every year. So we are we have a one year visibility over the exact number that we're going to get. And then it's going to it's going to vary for the next year. I am up for a 15 percent decrease in pay because the pound is just rolling in the last couple of months. You're like, No, I just started looking at it. That's getting notification, saying pound at two years high and I was like, Wonderful. Oh my gosh.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:52:22] So what are you getting paid in USD then?
Yekino: [00:52:25] By the US? The my base is in between 100 and 140 and the bonus is. One point four to one point six times my base, that's great. Yeah, it's a great first year.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:52:45] Less than three years out of school making good money.
Yekino: [00:52:48] Yeah, I can't complain.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:52:49] Yeah, even with the erosion, with the exchange rate. That's interesting. The only said it once a year.
Yekino: [00:52:57] Yeah, I think I think there needs to be a bit of a balance that may change
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:53:01] After this year. All the London employers would be like, What is this?
Yekino: [00:53:05] Well, you know, well, not for me because I wasn't working back then, but I think when was Brexit announced 2016 16? Five years ago, like, obviously, all these people got a 50 percent like five zero increase, not one five percent decrease as now. So. Ups and downs.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:53:27] Yeah, you have a little exchange rate risk, that's fun. You can probably hedge it a little bit with some other ways. Interesting ways, but
Yekino: [00:53:34] Get the bonus paid in USD, which I might plan on doing this summer. Also easier to co-invest in the fund because it was a co-investments would be used, so might as well not pay all this transaction.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:53:47] Yeah. Is there any carry for private equity associates, premia or anything
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:53:50] Like that or any just come invest opportunity? And what do they let you do?
Yekino: [00:53:54] Just co-invest opportunities. Ok, as associates. Yes. Very cool.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:54:00] Well, listen, the Aquino really appreciate the time you spent sharing all of your wisdom and information and story. It's been a blast.
Yekino: [00:54:10] Thank you for having me, Patrick. My pleasure.
Patrick (CEO of WSO): [00:54:12] And thanks to you, my listeners at Wall Street Oasis, if you have any suggestions whatsoever, please don't hesitate to send them my way. Patrick at Wall Street Oasis. And till next time.
or Want to Sign up with your social account?