McKinsey Corporate Finance-consulting?

Hi all,

I am looking at post-MBA opportunities and I am interested in McKinsey's Corporate Finance practice.

I am interested in working in PE in the long-run and I understand that consulting and IB are the best paths to follow if one wants to end up in a PE firm. Having said this, I prefer to gain experience outside PE for the next few years.

How do you guys view McKinsey's CF? Is it really consulting or is it closer to an IB's advisory arm? Does it have the same prestige and reputation than McKinsey's pure consulting practices?

How is the perception of McKinsey CF in the market? Are they regarded as financial people (IB-like) or consulting people?

Your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Malcom

It's closer to IB advisory although the scale of the practice (fewer, and more senior staff) and different legal setup means the projects are obviously different. Very similar to what Big4 CF teams do, but with less of the bulk-churn work (since it's cheaper for clients to have that done by Big4). The prestige is broadly similar to the consulting practices, but it's an apples and pears comparison. McKinsey CF employs finance specialists so you're looking at the "financial people" bucket.

Reputation-wise they are not different than the rest of the firm. In fact, it is just one of the practices of the firm, and it is treated as such internally.

It's not like the Big4s, where CF and Audit services, for example, are perceived differently by the market.

I'm sure you will be able to move to a PE firm easily, because the McKinsey brand is very strong in the market. In fact, I believe they will value the mix of strategy and finance that McKinsey CF guys are able to bring in.