The pull of private equity

Private equity fund administration is being touted as the sexy alternative to mutual funds, but could sub-prime throw a spanner in the works?

The monotonous nature of mutual fund administration is cited as a turn-off to new talent, and private equity fund administration is emerging as a more attractive option.

"Private equity is an area that is receiving increasing consideration at the moment," says Gary Palmer, chief executive of the Irish Funds Industry Association (IFIA). "It is seen as being at the upper end of the skillsets associated with the servicing of an investment fund."

A meatier role

So what separates it from the world of the spreadsheet slave? Emma Forrest, senior consultant at recruiters Career Compass, says: "It is both a more client-facing role, as you'll be dealing directly with the fund managers, and more technical and quantitative, which means a finance degree - usually at a masters level - is required. Private equity is just a meatier role."

Stats on private equity fund administration are few and far between as it's still a relatively nascent industry in Ireland. The IFIA puts it under the alternative investments umbrella, which includes property and hedge funds, and the net asset value of these was $1,011bn as of December 2007.

Leading the way

Citi is set to launch a private equity servicing team in Ireland this year, and Ron Daly, head of alternative investment services, has identified it as a key area of growth. Other firms with an Irish presence include Mourant, Apex Fund Servicing, JPMorgan Securities Services and Custom House.

But are there actually many job opportunities? Paul Cotter, director of recruiters Joslin Rowe, thinks not: "We're not seeing an awful lot of requests at this time. Private equity fund administration is an area Ireland is moving forward on, but we're being pulled back because of the market conditions. It happened during the last downturn in 2001, and we took a long time to recover from that."

The good news is that the pay is better than generic fund admin. Recruiters say with one to two years' experience you can bring in €37k-€43k, newly qualified accountants can expect €55k-€60k, and such is the dearth of senior managers that salaries are negotiable.