58pc of private capital firms ramp up hiring
The majority (58 per cent) of private capital firms have increased their headcount over the past year, as demand for private credit intensifies.
A new report from Preqin has found that despite market headwinds, global private capital assets under management reached a new milestone of $10.9 trillion (£8.89 trillion) at the end of December 2022. Preqin’s Future of Alternatives 2028 report has predicted that private capital assets will grow to $19.3 trillion by the end of 2028.
This growth appears to have led to a spike in hiring across private capital firms.
58 per cent of the firms surveyed said that they added new staff during 2022 and 2023, while just under one third of these firms maintained the same headcount year on year.
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Preqin found that hiring and retention has been focused mainly on deal teams and corporate operations.
Furthermore, firms are offering more incentives to staff to improve their ability to attract and retain talent. While base salaries have grown consistently over the last two years, the bigger trend has been the rise in the amount of personal days offered to employees.
According to Preqin, employee personal days increased by two days from 2021 to 2023 across all organizational levels, while vacations increased by a day for all levels except executive management, who received two additional days in 2023.
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“The growth of the private capital industry has created considerable career opportunities, and for firms active in the industry, getting compensation right is paramount for talent retention,” said Preqin’s Michael Patterson, the lead report author.
“Base salary increases across participating firms have become more common, but the pace of increasing base salaries may slow as wage pressure mellows and inflation falls from its 2022 peak.”
The report also found that firms are embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion as a way to attract and retain talent. Women are still viewed as the most under-represented group and are therefore the most highly sought after candidates for firms which are committed to improving diversity. At present, the proportion of women in deal teams and portfolio operations is 21 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
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