Why Apax Partners: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

Apax Partners Overview

Apax Partners is a British private equity firm situated in London, England. The firm has additional offices in Hong Kong, New York, Tel Aviv, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Munich.

Apax Partners exclusively invests in the following business sectors: technology, services, healthcare, and internet/consumer.

The primary way Apax Partners raise capital is through institutional investors such as university and college endowments, corporate and public pension funds, and fund of funds.

Alan Patricof and Ronald Cohen are the founders of Apax Partners – which is the by-product of the combination of 3 firms:

• Patricof & Co. – established by venture capitalist Alan Patricof in 1969 in New York
• Multinational Management Group (MMG) – founded by Sir Ronald Cohen and Maurice Tchénio in 1972
• Saunders Karp & Megrue, founded by Thomas A. Saunders III and Allan W. Karp in 1988 and joined by John Megrue in 1992.

As of December 2017, Apax and its predecessors have raised around $65 billion since 1981. The firm is considered to be one of the oldest and largest PE firms operating on an international level – ranked 15th largest PE firm globally.

Apax Partners AUM

According to most recent regulatory filings, Apax Partners has $88.3 million in assets under management as of June 29, 2022.

Apax Partners Interview Process & Questions

The interview process can change with each candidate, but if you interview at Apax Partners (or a firm like it), you can likely expect the following:

• The process will consist of 4-6 rounds of interviews
• Junior investment professionals or the HR team will conduct the initial rounds while the more senior takes care of the later rounds
• Entire interview process typically conclude after multiple weeks – unless it’s “on-cycle” or “on-campus” recruiting

Interviews at Apax Partners will require you to answer a mixture of fit questions, behavioral questions, and technical / investing questions.

If you need help preparing for interviews, take a minute to check my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

Why Apax Partners

“Why this firm” is one of the questions interviewers like to ask to check whether candidates have a specific and solid reason for choosing their firm, and not simply sending applications to any investment firm with open roles.

If you have met any former or current employees from the firm, this is the perfect time to mention whoever you’ve networked with and how they’ve made a really positive impression on you.

Also, listen to interviews with the firm’s founders, executives, and investors so you can learn more about them and formulate an answer to “why this firm” that’s relevant and impressive.

Check out this interview with Alan Patricof, Founder of APAX Partners:

More interviews

• What Does Growth & Scale Mean to Private Equity Orgs? Featuring Richard Perez, Lead Advisor for the Sales and Go-To-Market Practice at Apax Partners
• Discussion with Mark Beith, Managing Director of Apax Partners at the NOAH Conference London 2019

Apax Partners Case Study

Firms like Apax Partners are looking for candidates with technical knowledge and good communication skills. They use case studies to evaluate these two crucial attributes. That’s why it’s advisable that you prepare for case studies as they almost always show up during interviews.

Most case studies at firms like Apax Partners consist of financial modeling and investment recommendations. However, cold calling case study may also be required for junior roles.

If you’re unsure how to best prepare for case studies, my Growth Equity Interview Guide can help.

Apax Partners Salary & Compensation

According to Glassdoor, the estimated annual salary for Analysts at Apax Partners is $106,743 while for Associates, it’s $120,773 per year. These figures can vary depending on your qualifications, level of experience, and performance.

Analyst

Associate

From other publicly available sources, recent associates have earned $105,331 per year, while there’s no recent data for analyst hires.

Apax Partners Careers, Jobs, & Internships

If you like to see vacant positions at Apax Partners, go to our job board where we also feature open roles for other similar firms.

Apax Partners Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, Apax Partners has already made 228 investments across 17 funds. Some of the firm’s notable deals include MetaMetrics, Inmarsat, and Accurate Background.

Notable Transaction: IBS Software

IBS Software supports travel companies in their core business processes such as hospitality distribution platforms, energy & resource logistics, cruise operations, loyalty programs, passenger services, flight operations, and cargo & logistics so they can improve efficiency and accelerate innovation.

In May 2023, funds under Apax Partners came to a definitive agreement to acquire a significant minority stake in IBS Software – for approximately $450 million.

Apax will also partner closely with IBS Software’s Executive Chairman and Founder, VK Mathews, who remained as the majority shareholder.

According to Jason Wright, Partner at Apax, the firm monitored the travel software sector in the last several years, and IBS Software stood out to them as uniquely positioned, as they offer a next-gen software suite which they believe is unrivaled.

Apax believes there is a huge growth potential ahead of IBS Software and with their expertise in helping software companies, they are looking forward to helping IBS to become a world leader in logistics and travel software.

Next Steps

Breaking into the world of finance and landing a role at firms like Apax Partners will require you to stand out during the interview process. I created the Growth Equity Interview Guide for this purpose.

This online course helps professionals gain mastery over the crucial topics that often come up during interviews such as case studies, valuation, financial modeling, and many more.

If you want to gain a competitive edge, knowledge, and confidence to ace your interviews, go ahead and check out the course.