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What do Private Equity professionals do?
Private Equity is essentially about buying and selling companies. But what do private equity professionals really do on a day-to-day basis? The time of private equity professionals is divided between four main categories:
Raising money
What is Private Equity?
What are private equity funds?
Private equity funds are private pools of money managed by "general partners" that aim to generate a return to the investors ("limited partners") who are the ones investing their money in the fund. Private equity funds can manage anything from £50-100m to several billions.
List of London Private Equity Firms
Below is a list of private equity funds that have offices in London and have a significant European presence. We broke down the list in "generalist" funds that cover all sectors across difference geographies, "sector specialists", "specific region-focused" funds and finally private equity funds within investment banks.
Note that the list below covers only the major funds and doesn't include venture capital funds and other private equity funds that have less than 500m of assets under management.
Generalist Funds with London-based operations
Private Equity Interview Preparation
Below is some good advice from specialist recruiting firm KEA Consultants about the Private Equity Recruiting Process.
The private equity interview process is challenging from start to finish. Most firms will interview a candidate over three to four rounds, but there are cases where it can be as many as ten rounds. It all depends on the firm, the number of people they want you to meet and the testing involved.
The 4 Personalities in Private Equity
Here is an extract of a great article that I found on efinancialcareers - for once it felt quite spot on, and I've added a little bit based on my own experience. It relates to the 4 kind of personalities you tend to find in private equity funds (in Europe, mainly, but applies to most countries!).
1. The Ivy Leaguer
Initially flattered by your call (US-educated people appreciate entrepreneurialism more than Europeans), he will quietly stopwatch your elevator pitch to exactly 120 seconds. Don’t waste his time. Be ready to give him a stock pick or outline your favourite unloved sub-sector for buyouts.
Close out with some kind of reference to sport. You’ll discover at interview that he’s athletic, tall, and tanned. Clearly if you are too, it will help.
2. The Autistic Geek
Preparing your CV for Private Equity
If your ambition is to work for a private equity fund, not only must your resume go past the headhunters, which are notoriously picky about who they send for PE interviews, but it needs to get you a foot in the door of PE funds. Tailoiring your CV is a critical part of the application process, because it will be used in the numerous steps that will follow if you are invited for a first round interview. In the UK, Private Equity funds will typically look for the following qualities in your CV :
>> Business Judgement
>> Strategic perspective and understanding
>> Interest for investing
>> Raw intelligence
>> Analytical skills
>> Knowledge of finance, accounting and modelling
>> Strong communication and social skills
>> Existence of network or potential network, and "pedigree"
The Carlyle Group: Interview with the Head of Human Resources for Europe and MENA
Q: How many people do you employ in Europe?
A: We have around 200 employees in the Europe and Middle East regions. They’re pretty spread out; a little under half are in London.
Q: At what stage of their career do people usually join Carlyle?
A: I’d say the majority of our hiring is done at a more junior level. We tend to grow people through their careers with the firm, but we also make lateral hires on an as-needed basis.
Q: Do you have an MBA intake?
A: Not as a class. We hire MBAs but we don’t have a fixed MBA hiring programme.
Q: If you were hiring MBAs, are there any business schools you’d target?
MBAs in Private Equity - education goes a long way
An MBA is typically regarded as a prerequisite to reach the higher echelons of private equity, especially at the larger firms.
But is that true? What does the data tell us?
You will find MBAs are almost in every PE firm
Typical PE Interview Process
Private Equity recruiting tends to be much more informal compared to banking or consulting, however there are very common steps that most Private Equity Firms go through for interviews. I would describe a typical process in the UK (or Europe in general) as follows:
The First Round: fit, case studies, technical tests
"fit" questions
Headhunters for Private Equity
While PE firms tend to recruit people through their network first (e.g. alumni, bankers they worked with, friends and ex-colleagues) before going to headhunting firms, here is a list of the well known headhunters in London that have a specialised Private Equity practice
KEA consultants (www.keaconsultants.com)
