Private Equity Groups

In growth equity, firms invest minority stakes into high-growth companies that need capital to scale their sales and marketing or geographic/industry presence.

It’s a mix between venture capital and private equity because firms do not use debt, but the companies they invest in are more mature than typical startups.

In mezzanine investing, firms invest in the higher-yielding and riskier tranches of company debt in leveraged buyout deals.

Mezzanine funds are similar to traditional PE in some ways (such as the focus on leveraged buyouts) but they differ because they require more credit analysis skills and modeling/transaction knowledge and less ongoing work with portfolio companies.

Not all private equity firms invest in the equity or debt of companies; some also invest in alternative assets, such as real estate, infrastructure (e.g., bridges, toll roads, airports, or power plants), and agriculture.

Even within each of these asset classes, there’s some variation because firms might choose to invest in the equity (e.g. ownership real estate or infrastructure assets) or the debt (e.g. Project Finance, which lends to fund the acquisition and development of infrastructure assets).

More Exotic Variations

Outside of the core asset classes above are even more “exotic” asset classes, such as:

• agricultural finance (e.g., buying and selling farms)
• impact investing for supporting firms and organizations with a social mission
• renewable energy
• aircraft leasing
• and more

Pension funds and sovereign wealth funds often act as the Limited Partners (LPs) to private equity firms, but over time, many of these funds have formed internal private equity groups.

These groups invest directly in companies, real estate, and infrastructure assets, and often compete with the large private equity firms on deals.

The most well-known pension funds with direct PE arms are in Canada, but similar funds also exist in Australia, Norway, Asia, and the Middle East.

Some firms also exist specifically to invest in private equity funds rather than companies or assets.

They’re called “Private Equity Funds of Funds,” and professionals at these firms spend their time meeting with PE management teams, evaluating firms’ performances, and drilling into the details of how each firm’s portfolio companies have performed.

If the PE fund of funds makes frequent co-investments (e.g., when the PE firm acquires an asset or company, the fund of funds supporting it also chooses to invest extra to fund the deal), then you may get modeling and transaction experience similar to what you would experience at a direct PE fund.

However, most of the work tends to be “higher-level” since you focus on fund-level performance rather than the analysis of specific companies and deals.

Further reading:

• [Case Study] Breaking into a PE Fund of Funds Role
• [Case Study] Private Equity Fund of Funds, On The Job

You do not necessarily need to raise hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to “be in private equity.”

It’s possible to start with much smaller amounts of capital and focus on acquiring smaller companies.

One popular way to do this is the search fund, where an entrepreneur raises capital, finds a small business, acquires it, runs and improves it, and eventually sells it.

It’s like private equity, but for a single company rather than an entire portfolio of companies.

Many family offices, i.e., the investment arms of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, have also gotten into the private equity game and formed teams to make direct investments in companies.

Although private equity shares some similarities with fields such as investment banking, venture capital, and hedge funds, it also has some distinct differences:

• Control Deals, Not Minority Stakes: Unlike venture capital and hedge fund firms, private equity firms usually acquire controlling interests (between 50% and 100% ownership) in assets and companies and then use that power to make significant changes.
• Investing, Not Advising: Unlike investment banks, PE firms earn nothing from closing deals; they earn money from management fees, based on a percentage of capital raised, and from earning a return on their investments, a percentage of which is distributed to the General Partners in the fund (carry).
• Long-Term Focus: Most investment banks and hedge funds tend to focus on the short term because they simply need to close deals (banks) or buy and sell a position in stocks, bonds, or other assets at a profit (hedge funds). But PE firms often hold companies for 3-7 years.
• Variable Compensation: The compensation ceiling tends to be far higher than in investment banking because PE firms earn a percentage of their investment profits rather than a simple fee on closed deals. If the firm loses money, however, that also means that the compensation could end up being less than in IB.

We cover these differences in more detail in the articles below:

• Investment Banking vs Private Equity
• Private Equity vs Venture Capital
• Hedge Funds vs Private Equity

Also, read this if you want to know How to Start a Private Equity Firm – and Why You Probably Shouldn’t.

Private equity is a highly competitive and sought-after field. PE firms are small, tight-knit, and full of extremely smart and highly motivated people.

As a starting point, the right career background is critical. Overwhelmingly, PE firms hire people with experience working for top investment banks, and sometimes those with consulting, Big 4 transaction services, or related deal/valuation experience (e.g., corporate development at a normal company).

That said, firms expect new hires to hit the ground running with usable skills. And if you want to be competitive in interviews, you need to be well-versed in explaining your deal/client experience and answering technical questions and case studies.

Some of the courses offered by Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street that will help you win private equity roles include:

• Investment Banking Interview Guide – Includes a 120-page guide to LBO modeling and 4 practice LBO case studies/modeling tests
• BIWS Premium – This course includes more in-depth LBO case studies and coverage of foundational financial modeling skills
• Private Equity Modeling (LBO Modeling) – You’ll master LBO modeling, paper LBOs, and case studies with 6 conceptual models and 6 full, step-by-step case studies.
• Venture Capital & Growth Equity Modeling – This one is highly relevant for roles investing in earlier-stage companies, where knowledge of cap tables and granular financial models is essential

Completing these courses will help you win interviews and job offers for roles that pay $150K+ and position you for careers in private equity. Learn more about Breaking Into Wall Street here.