Private Equity Deals - Experience in both Commercial Real Estate and Mergers and Acquisitions, LBOs
Does anyone here have experience on the Private Equity M&amp;A / leveraged buy out side as well as CRE?

Is common for high performers in Private Equity CRE to eventually oversee deals in both CRE and M&amp;A?

My goal is to spend my career in investments with deals progressively increasing in complexity.  My background is in civil engineering and I currently work for a small retail developer managing entitlements thru construction.

I know my background is not the typical way into the field and I plan to progressively oversee more parts of the deal at my current gig before considering venturing to firms that manage a larger variety of deals.

Thank you!
[{"id": "gp64ix3", "text": "Not in PERE but rather LifeCo RE so I'm interested to hear from the PE perspective but I imagine this will vary from shop to shop, with the larger shops having their own teams dedicated to the M&amp;A function", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gp64pai", "text": "No, different skill sets. There is a big difference between underwriting a building and underwriting a company.", "replies": [{"id": "ih675nz", "text": "Please elaborate", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gp65iy5", "text": "My firm has a Corporate Finance team with ex-investment (asset level) pros, all super good at what they do. They oversee our M&amp;A underwrites and larger strategic transactions, so yes, it\u2019s possible, though fairly unusual.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gp684dg", "text": "You will almost certainly not be able to transition from commercial real estate development to investment banking. The skills do not appreciably overlap, people in I banking know they do not overlap,  and most importantly, you did not start off in investment banking. You really have to start there as it\u2019s extremely difficult to get into to begin with and near impossible after the fact. So, never say never but I would not plan your career around that. The good news is that it\u2019s not that great. Commercial real estate is way more fun and can be just as profitable.", "replies": [{"id": "gp6dpgh", "text": "Thanks for the feedback but I think I described this incorrectly.  \n\nI mean to be on a private equity team that buys companies, improves them, and sells them in the same way that they would a piece of land or existing development. \n\nSo not the transactional or brokering part of the M&amp;A but rather the restructuring of the asset.  I would be hiring out the M&amp;A portion.", "replies": [{"id": "gp6n3gb", "text": "If you\u2019re talking about buying true opcos you won\u2019t be able to transition. I tried to do that when I went to HBS/Wharton/GSB and even coming from Blackstone/Carlyle/TPG I couldn\u2019t break in - the OpCo PE firms think you\u2019re a real estate person.", "replies": [{"id": "gp6u6s3", "text": "I agree. And why would they? They aren\u2019t. What the fuck does a real estate guy know about accounting practices, WACC, the dreaded down round investment? Nada", "replies": [], "depth": 4}, {"id": "gp6v58p", "text": "Ok gotcha.  You have some great experience, I have a lot to learn.\n\nI don\u2019t know that I would ever want to work for one of those big firms.  My ideal firm would be one with &lt;20 employees with just enough firepower to make a fun variety of deals happen.  I\u2019ve worked for big firms before and the pigeonholing and super specialization was unbearable for me.\n\nI don\u2019t know how many small PE firms are out there though that do a real estate and private businesses.", "replies": [{"id": "gp6wkos", "text": "I mean some but they\u2019re typically family office investors not true PE", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "gp6tboa", "text": "Yes, I did misunderstand but my point stands. They\u2019re is very little correlation. Unless you want to move to a tertiary market and try to break in at a regional firm, there\u2019s no way. People at PE firms come from Ivy League schools. If you\u2019re notinteracting with a bunch of Ivy League grads on a daily basis, I hate to break it to you, but you never will. Again, that beings said, it doesn\u2019t matter. That\u2019s all a shell game about name recognition. The world only cares about good ideas. You can be just as successful if your smart.", "replies": [{"id": "gp6x12w", "text": "I appreciate it.  Yeah I was ruled out of ivy when I was white, went to a public school, not ivy legacy, and lacked notable athletic ability. Gotta do it the old fashioned way.  I\u2019d rather work for a small firm that values ideas and work success anyway.", "replies": [{"id": "gp70cf0", "text": "I hear what I would describe as contempt in your comment. I would caution to not walk that path. No one cares about your feelings, I certainly don\u2019t. Don\u2019t take it personally. There\u2019s always a path forward but don\u2019t lie to yourself about how the world works", "replies": [{"id": "gp78811", "text": "Agreed, thanks for the reminder to stay humble", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}, {"id": "gpan8q1", "text": "Save your money and find your own PE deal. What better way to show the world you are qualified to do this work than just fucking doing it? IB/PE is a world of type-A personality BSDs. If you don\u2019t have the sack to just put you ballz on the table and do your own deal.....you won\u2019t make it in that world anyway. .......IMHO of course", "replies": [{"id": "gpao03i", "text": "Agreed, that\u2019s what I will ultimately do. Just don\u2019t have the $$ yet.\n\nI live in FL and plenty of PE people down here don\u2019t have ivy credentials. They just made things happen on their own.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gp846im", "text": "Too piggy back off other comments - unfortunately this would be pretty far fetched. \n\nThe closest - and I mean still 10 steps removed from what you are suggesting above and in your comments - anyone coming from IB has a good shot at CRE PE. Not the opposite. Anyone outside of IB has about a 1/1000 chance of breaking into CRE PE without an investment banking background. The odds go to 1/10,000 if we are talking about breaking into IB from your current role. \n\nI never say never on this subreddit, as literally anything can happen if you are lucky enough, but trying to provide some context to what I think you are suggesting. \n\nSource - worked CRE for family fund, both CFO and VP came direct from the street.", "replies": [{"id": "gp8uxcj", "text": "Ok that makes sense.  I guess it\u2019d be fun to work on CRE for a firm that does both.  Even if I couldn\u2019t do both it\u2019d be fun to see those IB types of deals happen.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gpittvr", "text": "You absolutely can transition. At the risk of sounding clich\u00e9, you can do whatever you set your mind to. Also an engineer here (computer and electrical). I changed careers completely in my 40\u2019s. No offense to brokers, bankers, etc., it ain\u2019t rocket science or brain surgery. Your mind needs to work a specific way to be an engineer, it takes quite a bit of intelligence. So as far as ability, no problem there. We are in the day of it\u2019s who you know. I would get out there and network intentionally and get to know others in that circle. Don\u2019t mind the over cocky keyboard warriors, I think some people get a kick out of peeing on other people\u2019s Cheerios.", "replies": [{"id": "gpizad3", "text": "Thank you for that, I agree.  I look at some of the teams of local PE firms and theres a huge range of qualifications, including guys recently out of average colleges with average degrees with little experience. Just a matter of connecting with the right people.", "replies": [{"id": "gpizipp", "text": "Exactly, good luck :)", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]