Private equity firms provide financial backing to start-ups and to non-public companies. They invest in the companies which have not opened IPOs (Initial Public Offering) and have not gone public to collect money through the share market. These private equity firms acquire money from institutional investors or high net worth individuals (HNWI), and help the investors to grow their money. Private equity firms have a long-term strategy to convert these companies into cash cows and then they pull out their money along with the profits.
List of top PE firms
Here is the list of the top ten PE firms based on the research done by us.
- The Carlyle Group – Washington D.C. the USA
- United States Private Equity Council – USPEC
- The Blackstone Group Inc. New York City, USA
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) – New York City, USA
- Apollo Global Management – New York City, USA
- TPG Capital (Texas Pacific Group)- Fort Worth, Texas
- CVC Capital Partners – Luxembourg, Europe
- Warburg Pincus LLC- New York City, USA
- Neuberger Berman Group LLC- New York City, USA
- EQT Partners- Stockholm, Sweden
Career Opportunities to Work in these Private Equity firms
Private equity jobs at lower levels like PE analyst and PE associate are some of the toughest to crack in the industry. So if you are planning to carve out a private equity career in the above-mentioned top private equity firms, you will have to be extremely well-read, smart, and diligent.
After completing your MBA in Finance from a reputed institute, the best option is to enter into the space of investment banking. It will be easy for you to grab a private equity job entry-level through that route. Since investment bankers work closely with private equity firms on most of their deals, anyone working in that space will be an ideal fit to enter the private equity career space.
Finance jobs can be categorized broadly into four types of jobs-
1. Banks (Commercial banking, Sales, Trading, Research, Investment Banking)
2. Institutions (Private Equity, Portfolio Management, Research)
3. Corporate Finance (Investor Relations, Corporate Development, Treasury, Financial Planning and Analysis, Business Intelligence)
4. Public Accounting (Consulting, Due diligence, transaction advisory, valuations)
You can think about creating a private equity career from any of these core sectors. You need to complete some financial modeling and valuation courses that will position you better for these roles.
Qualifications are required to get a job in these Private Equity Firms
• Typically most of the private equity firms hire about 60% of candidates with an MBA Finance degree. They prefer to hire candidates in their 30s for their private equity jobs entry level.
• Apart from the degree, you need to have knowledge of specific industries. You need to understand the business model of the companies which are seeking the services of private equity firms.
• Getting into a private equity career just after the B-School might be the dream of many; however, it seldom is realized due to the lack of operational experience.
• You need to be extremely good with numbers and have the ability to develop and analyze Excel spreadsheets.
• Financial modeling/analysis skills are a pre-requisite for the private equity career.
• You need to have strong interpersonal and networking skills. You need to have the ability to research markets, companies, competition, customers, the potential of the companies, etc. very well.
The on-cycle process for hiring private equity jobs entry-level at big private equity firms based in in New York, Washington DC happens between October-March.
Requisite Certifications-
1. CPEP Certification- Grab the attention of the employers by adding CPEP (Chartered Private Equity Professional) Certification to your resume.
2. Commercial Banking and Credit Analyst CBCA certification.
3. Capital Markets and Securities Analyst (CMSA).
4. Business Intelligence and Data Analyst (BIDA).
