Pros
I work in Portfolio Valuation (PV), but rub shoulders with the VAS group (general valuation), so I will share some thoughts on that group as well. In short, working here will be excellent training, and a great stepping stone for your future career. However, you will be underpaid for the number of hours you work. Many new analysts come in and work very hard for a year or two and then leave to do Investment banking when they realize they will only be working slightly more hours (and more weekends), but get paid literally double. Analysts start somewhere around $67,500 in SF and NY I believe, or something close to that. Morale is low in many places, as Permira, the current PE firm owner has implemented quite a few layoffs that seemed unnecessary. Some were underperformers, but many were solid employees that had been with the company for a long time – it seemed short-sighted in the grand scheme of things. The Managing Directors at D&P are mostly all very intelligent and expert in their specific industry focus. It is relatively easy to become promoted to Senior Associate from Analyst within 2.5 years (pay increases to $85k), but the jump to VP is quite a bit more difficult, especially in VAS. PV is growing so it is better able to support talented staff making the jump to VP. -PV – The PV group is doing very well from a growth perspective. Business is booming, revenues are growing and more and more PE firms are using D&P to do their valuation work. The MDs in PV are excellent for the most part. NJ does mainly debt valuations. New York has the bulk of the PV MDs and there are also two in SF, for a total of around 14 give or take. The MDs are smart, you will learn a lot working in this group that will lend itself well to many different exit opps on the finance/valuation team of a PE firm or elsewhere and could be a great exit to business school. The projects are fast-paced with quick turnaround, but the work itself is very interesting and engaging. -VAS – This part of the business is struggling. In 2018, revenues have been down so much that quite a few people were laid off. The work that VAS does is still top notch though but given how commoditized purchase price allocations and 409A’s have become, it will be interesting to see if this part of the business recovers. In its best years it was at 2-4% growth, and now it’s down double digits this year.
Cons
PV has to use the VAS staff (Analysts and Senior Associates), as they aren’t allowed to hire their own (every once in a while they will be allowed to hire one or two). This part of the business model makes no sense at all, and can only be explained as poor senior management. If PV had its own dedicated staff, this would be a great place to have a career (with the possible exception of being underpaid, but more on that below). Often times, PV managers and staff get burnt out from not having enough help to do the high work load, and will then leave to take jobs elsewhere. Also, everyone in PV is doing very complex work, but unless you’re a director that’s been there a very long time, or you were hired from outside, you will most likely be underpaid. If you’ve risen up through the ranks you will certainly be underpaid, and management will only maybe give you a significant raise up to market value if you have another offer in hand and you’re threatening to leave. PV continues to grow every year, but somehow they aren’t given their own staff, and bonuses still leave much to be desired. The poor performance of the VAS group means that PV ends up getting slighted – the bonuses are not good, which makes no sense at all. If PV was its own separate group completely bonuses and pay would most assuredly be much better as the group has a record year each year. Who’s going to be happy working very hard and then getting a 15% bonus (in the highest performer bucket), when you could be elsewhere receiving a bonus that’s double or triple that? A lot of people want to stay hoping the pay will improve, but somehow the bonuses are the same every year. The new owners, Permira, paid too much to acquire D&P, and as they now realize that they have been trying to do whatever they can to cut costs. Layoffs in VAS sunk morale, and given the hot job market it is now (in 2018), junior staff are running for the exits and taking jobs offering over 25% higher pay. If PV wants to stay competitive, they need to pay their very talented and extremely hard working team market rate, or else Houlihan, or any number of other valuation or PE firms will continue to poach the best talent.