Job Description

Job Description

What is a Private Equity firm?

With those of you that are not familiar with what a private equity firm does, essentially we buy and manage portfolio companies that we deem as a worthy investment. Our intention is not to just secure capital for struggling or successful business, we want to help them grow and be successful from a financial and operational viewpoint. This is slightly different than let’s say buying stock of a company, as we typically intend on purchasing a large sum or whole operation of the business we are investing in.

What does an analyst do?

· Search within multiple industries to analyze potential investments

· Scrutinize and analyze potential investments

· Build financial models of potential investments

· Present to management

· Follow up with portfolio companies

· Raise money from outsiders

So as an analyst in a private equity firm we are responsible for many roles within the office. Analysts essentially conduct the research in order to attract new investment opportunities to management. This is usually done through heavy financial statement analysis where we compare the funds required goals and discount potential future earnings of investments in order assure the investment will be sufficient. We will look at companies within various industries that appear to be prosperous investments. After researching companies that could be potential investments, we build financial scenarios that present many potential yields that succumb from different capital structure and valuations. Essentially we dig heavily through all the financial statements and attempt to come up with a proper valuation and overall return on investment in order to see if we are making a wise decision. Another important role of analyst is to help raise the required amount of cash in order to have the fund, this usually entails being in constant contact with high net worth individuals and private companies that seek to invest their excess cash.

A Typical Day

· Arrive in office and respond and check emails from yesterday or that sent overnight

· Look for potential investments that meet criteria of investment funds goals

· Build financial models of potential portfolio companies

· Call potential buyers or sellers of companies

· Update financial models of current portfolio companies to see profit/loss, goal targets

· Summarize research and findings of the day in a memo

As an analyst the work at times can be tedious and grueling, the hours range from 8am to 7pm or 9pm on the weekdays. Sometimes it’s required to come in on the weekends if we are working on a big or urgent deal. Overall this job is much less stressful then other jobs in the financial industry, for example as oppose to being an investment banker where you can work in excess of 90 hours a week.

Desired Skills

Detailed oriented- This is a job that involves a lot of details; it is very important to always have accurate information as you will be presenting to upper management and other people rely on your analysis.

Industry knowledge- It is good to have a broad idea of the workings and structure of many industries, this allows your research to be accurate and ultimately more adept in making business decisions.

Communication skills- You will be working in teams and constantly interacting; whether it is presenting or building models with coworkers, strong communication skills are highly desired.

Analytical skills- As an analyst we spend a significant amount of time looking through and preparing financial analysis. This is one of our most imperative roles and it is our job to gain insight into new investment opportunities, and being analytical helps strengthen logical reasoning.

High Energy- The work hours can be long and grueling so it is important that an analyst is someone who is a very motivated individual and is ok working hard all the time.

Summary

This job is defiantly not for everyone, it can be tedious and overwhelming as there is a substantial amount of responsibility placed on analysts. Most people are attracted to this position because of the high salaries and bonuses that are common for jobs in Private Equity.

But this should not be the sole drive of getting this career, this is a job for someone who truly has a passion for investing and picking apart companies. Analysts need to have strong reasoning paired with an analytical nature to be successful in this environment. It also has to be an individual that can put in the hard work and long hours without getting discouraged or feel they are not living life.