Here is our final interview in the China Finance Interview Series. It is with a senior associate at a local private equity firm. After going to a non-target but big state school in the U.S. he landed at job inmanagement consultingand then transferred into private equity once back in China.
This is our last posting of the Interview Series, so stay tuned for a double posting next time: 1) a fresh new column for all you college kids out there scrambling for a job during your senior spring, and 2) a digest of the best comments from these past five interviews.
您是如何进入私募股权的？
Previously I was working at a management consultancy (MBB）在美国的第二层城市中，我在美国的本科生三年后做了这件事，但整个过程中，我都计划返回中国在我的家人的公司工作。在获得咨询方面的经验之后，它实际上很容易过渡到中国的私募股权。我收到了一些工作要约，可以在香港和大陆的公司工作，但最终选择了大陆，因为这是我看到与中国有关的任何业务的长期潜力。
您为什么选择进入私募股权？
正如我之前提到的，我的长期目标是从父亲那里接管家族企业。我认为从本科生出来，管理咨询将是一个很好的开始，并为将来所有其他商业工作奠定了坚实的基础。在（MBB）度过了三年之后，我认为是时候回家了，但我仍然认为我没有必要的技能来成为家人公司的领导者。它每年的销售额近10亿元人民币（170美元MMUSD) and we are planning over the course of the next few years to acquire some smaller local players to aid our nationwide expansion westward.
我三年PE在这方面，经验对我有很大帮助，我知道我将能够在这些投资和收购中做出有意义的贡献。父亲实际上要我立即加入公司，但我说不。现在他同意我的看法，我做出了正确的决定。我可能会在家族陪伴下度过余生，因此还有三年的外部经验。
What are your current responsibilities?
At first it was a lot of grunt work. Industry research, reading 10-Ks of public companies and seeing how that was held up or contradicted our investment thesis for a live deal, etc. As of the past 6 months I've focused mainly on deal sourcing, which means I generally am speaking with owners of businesses in Central and Western China that may need capital injections or international partners to help them grow.
与之相关的挑战是什么？您最喜欢哪些部分？
Well – as far as what I enjoy the most: speaking with entrepreneurs, their families, and other decision makers in those businesses is a real pleasure. You not only get to learn a lot about their businesses, the respective industries, but also you get to learn about their lives, motivations, goals, fears, everything! It's a really personal side of the business that I wasn't really expecting and hadn't been exposed to as much in my previous consulting work or even in the first two years at thePEfirm. Challenges are many: figuring out whether or not you can trust the business owners is something my colleagues frequently talk about, but I think it actually might be harder to get them to trust you as an investor.
许多这样的家庭并不真正理解business model of private equity. They would much rather deal with a private investor or a family friend or connection. In my experience, the 'warmest' leads I've had are when someone who knows the business owner connects the firm to them, rather than connects us to the firm. In that order, I mean. Persuading a business owner who does not really want to give up financial control of their baby, this thing they've created and nursed and grown and cared for, hasn't been easy. Perhaps if I was older and could point to a longer track record in private equity it might be different. I don't know.
与您当前的工作与您在美国所做的工作有何不同？
Being a management consultant and private equity analyst require a lot of the same skill sets. Many of the parts of individual projects look incredibly similar and in fact may even be indistinguishable from each other. However the attitude is different. As a consultant, you're fixing problems that are already present, while here I'm more looking into the future and trying to predict what issues will arise. I think private equity requires a great deal of experience to be successful, because you don't always have all the facts you need to make the decision at hand. Plus, the stakes are way higher. InPE, obviously, you actually put your own money on the line whereas in consulting your recommendation might actually turn out to be complete B.S., but you'll actually probably still get another contract from the same company!
What do you think is the next step in your career?
I think I'll remain in my current job for another one or two years and then join the family business as a business development manager or acquisitions manager.
所以您不是在考虑商学院吗？
No. No reason, really. I don't think I would gain a lot from the academy side of things. Maybe a little marketing or a little leadership training or something. From a networking perspective, yes, it would be valuable, but as a business owner/investor, I don't think it would be worth that time spent. I actually think that if I wanted to go back into consulting or work in investment banking, two service businesses where sales is a huge component of success, then I might. After all, if you go to Harvard or Stanford, for instance, half of your class then becomes your client five or ten years down the road. But for me, as a future investor and business owner, it's much less important.
您将为试图在中国私募股权工作的人推荐什么？
It's a super local business. If you're trying to source deals and you're not local, then good luck. Not to say it hasn't been done, because there are some great guys out there, both white guys and also some Singaporeans/Hong Kong guys. But unless you're from the mainland of China, for whatever reason, it's going to be more challenging for you. If you're not looking for China specific deals and just looking across Asia, then it becomes easier, but having a local team on the ground is going to be a huge benefit. Even if you're looking for a deal in Taiwan, for instance, you should have some Taiwanese people on your team. Looking for a deal in Chengdu, get someone from Sichuan. Overall, I think that there's more emphasis on the operations side of the business right now – companies are more interested in someone with operational experience – so consulting seems to be a good route. I know a lot of other private equity guys that were in consulting before their current roles as well. Bankers seem hesitant to move to private equity in China also because there's less money in the form of compensation, generally speaking.
你是什么意思？
Well let's say in the U.S. or the U.K. a private equity first year associate gets paid something like $150 K USD for a year's work, bonus included. In China, if you're working for a local firm, the same experience might get you half of that all-in. Now, the lifestyle is just as good, if not better, once you account for where you stack up in the income percentiles, but lots of people just look at the gross income and don't take other things into account. So that scares off some well-qualified applicants from the private equity job market here.
非常酷的见解。感谢你的时间。厕所k forward to being in touch.
极好的。
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and content.
Comments (3）
Obviously it's a small sample out of the population since I've only met like 5 people doingPE在中国，但所有人（以及所有人都已经加载）告诉我，如果您没有加载/来自连通良好的家庭，甚至都不认为ABTPE在中国，没有什么诸如中国的“努力”之类的东西PEfunds.
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