Public M&A v. PE v. Cap Market Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a junior at a firm in a major secondary market. I'm waffling between the M&A/PEG work and capital markets work. I enjoy facets of both: getting to know companies and pushing through a deal on a M&A/PEG deal, and becoming more fluent in corporate governance work and getting to know securities laws with the cap markets work. I recently participated in a public M&A deal, and parts of the process were awful. I can't tell if I just hated the deal, or if all public M&A is like this (almost unreasonably accelerated deal timing, anxiety around what the SEC would say, pressure from execs and the partners).

For folks who chose public M&A work, private equity, or capital markets work (or did some of this work and chose NOT to do any of them), can you talk a little bit about what you did/n't like about the work, why you chose the practice that you did, and what kind of/how good of exit options you've seen for these areas? (I'm very nervous about the fact that cap markets work is very market-sensitive, so what would happen in an economic downturn.)

[Anonymous User]

Sorry for reviving this old post but I am now in a similar position and would really appreciate any insights on the differences between PE/private market work and capital market work.

[trmckenz]

I chose PE M&A specifically because I do not like the regulatory aspect of public company work. I ruled out pretty CapM quickly for that reason.

Timelines in PE M&A are sometimes unreasonably compressed, and workflow can be unpredictable. Some PE clients are more demanding than others. But generally I enjoy the sophistication of PE deals and working with smart people.

You get to learn a lot about how companies operate in both M&A and CapM.

[Anonymous User]

I chose PE M&A specifically because I do not like the regulatory aspect of public company work. I ruled out pretty CapM quickly for that reason.

Timelines in PE M&A are sometimes unreasonably compressed, and workflow can be unpredictable. Some PE clients are more demanding than others. But generally I enjoy the sophistication of PE deals and working with smart people.

You get to learn a lot about how companies operate in both M&A and CapM.

Thank you so much! I talked to some laterals this week and they also said they joined our PE group as they hate the regulatory side and securities law requirements (they did both private and public in their old firms). One lateral partner said she just found there's more flexibility on the private side. It sounds like people generally fell in love with private work for the same reason - could you help elaborate a little bit as to why you hate the regulatory aspect? I am too junior to understand this and would appreciate any insights.

[trmckenz]

Big picture I was never a fan of "the law" or doing legal research. I don't enjoy using EDGAR and public databases and forms. I am also not particularly attracted to the stock market. Initially I was excited about working on big public deals and IPOs because I am entrepreneurial and had dreams of Silicon Valley startups (which are all C corps). But the public company work I did felt repetitive. I get more excited about transaction structures and the business concerns in private equity.

I know it's been debated on TLS before, but generally speaking, PE M&A deals are more complex / custom because of how equity moves around. But public deals are cool because they often involve household names, huge numbers, and more news coverage.

Hope this all helps.

[Anonymous User]

Big picture I was never a fan of "the law" or doing legal research. I don't enjoy using EDGAR and public databases and forms. I am also not particularly attracted to the stock market. Initially I was excited about working on big public deals and IPOs because I am entrepreneurial and had dreams of Silicon Valley startups (which are all C corps). But the public company work I did felt repetitive. I get more excited about transaction structures and the business concerns in private equity.

I know it's been debated on TLS before, but generally speaking, PE M&A deals are more complex / custom because of how equity moves around. But public deals are cool because they often involve household names, huge numbers, and more news coverage.

Hope this all helps.

Yeah that's helpful! Thanks so much : )