placement agent - information

 

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8/17/12

antmavelCF|328 banana points

Hi,

 

I have now the opportunity to join a placement agent as an associate, I don't know much about the industry other than the usual things (act as a middleman and look for investors to put money in the fund, typically more a sales/marketing type of skillset). Would be really keen to know more about the industry specifics and was wondering about the career itself :

 

1/ what is the career progression and how your role differ from being an analyst/associate to VP/MD ?

2/ what is the typical comp structure for an associate

3/ hours and lifestyle

4/ exit opportunities

 

Would really appreciate if any of you has some info, even through PM.

 

Thanks,

 

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placement agent

COMMENTS (61)

8/17/12

highhaterO|235 banana points

I interned at a placement agent last summer. Is it within a bank or independent boutique?

 

The way my firm worked was that there were two sides: origination/project management and distribution.

 

First side had a lot of ex-bankers. They met with potential GPs to take on as clients and once they won the mandate would just do due diligence, put together marketing materials, etc.

 

Distribution had a lot of ex-sales guys. They basically manage relationships with the LPs like pension funds, endowment funds, etc.

 

I was on the first side and thought it was interesting because you get to hear top PE fund managers pitch their fund to you and you assess their strategies and whatnot. Bad thing is you don't work with companies and don't gain a lot of industry expertise. No modeling either but the hours are good. Personally I thought the origination/project management side was a lot like banking. Working on pitchbooks and getting them revised, working on private placement memoranda, etc. Except no financial analysis.

 

I'm not sure about comp. I imagine base salary similar to banking but smaller bonus probs.

 

Hours and lifestyle is great but it depends on who you work for and how much dealflow you have. Some boutiques run their shops like investment banks and make you work 80 hours a week. Mine was pretty normal but we only had one deal going since my office was in an emerging market

 

Exit opportunities would be either to stay in the business or move to investor relations at a PE fund, RE fund, infrastructure, hedge fund maybe. Or any kind of fund marketing role. Jumping to an investment consulting firm like Cambridge associates, fund of funds, pension fund, endowment fund, etc. is also doable because basically you're doing a similar thing in looking at fund managers. But those are LPs and pay a lot less.

 

Hope this helps

 

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8/18/12

antmavelCF|328 banana points

1SB for you ! Very useful answer. Position would actually be within a boutique and my understanding is that my work will be more focused on LPs from a specific region therefore I assume this will be more about the "distribution" aspect of the job...will definitely check that during interview process. Thanks for the information, great stuff !

 

highhater:

I interned at a placement agent last summer. Is it within a bank or independent boutique?

 

The way my firm worked was that there were two sides: origination/project management and distribution.

 

First side had a lot of ex-bankers. They met with potential GPs to take on as clients and once they won the mandate would just do due diligence, put together marketing materials, etc.

 

Distribution had a lot of ex-sales guys. They basically manage relationships with the LPs like pension funds, endowment funds, etc.

 

I was on the first side and thought it was interesting because you get to hear top PE fund managers pitch their fund to you and you assess their strategies and whatnot. Bad thing is you don't work with companies and don't gain a lot of industry expertise. No modeling either but the hours are good. Personally I thought the origination/project management side was a lot like banking. Working on pitchbooks and getting them revised, working on private placement memoranda, etc. Except no financial analysis.

 

I'm not sure about comp. I imagine base salary similar to banking but smaller bonus probs.

 

Hours and lifestyle is great but it depends on who you work for and how much dealflow you have. Some boutiques run their shops like investment banks and make you work 80 hours a week. Mine was pretty normal but we only had one deal going since my office was in an emerging market

 

Exit opportunities would be either to stay in the business or move to investor relations at a PE fund, RE fund, infrastructure, hedge fund maybe. Or any kind of fund marketing role. Jumping to an investment consulting firm like Cambridge associates, fund of funds, pension fund, endowment fund, etc. is also doable because basically you're doing a similar thing in looking at fund managers. But those are LPs and pay a lot less.

 

Hope this helps

 

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