【校友專訪】Marcus Jeng - Vice President | Ark Pacific Capital Management 美元私募基金

Marcus Jeng | Class of 2015 | 1 Year MBA Program

Vice President, Ark Pacific Capital Management

【校友介紹】
Location of Residence: 香港
Current Role: Vice President, Ark Pacific Capital Management 美元私募基金
Job prior to Kellogg: Manager, Deals Advisory Service, PwC Taiwan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-jeng-cpa-cfa-34012826/

Kellogg畢業之際拿到了幾個私募基金offer，算是對得起當初申請Kellogg時寫的career goal。與大學長Joseph Sun在他仁愛路的豪宅詳談之後，考量到未來學習投資實務的廣度及深度以及compensation structure，來到香港加入了一個規模相對較小的special situation fund。兩年以來完成7件投資案、退出了1件，規模從USD5M到50M不等，地域上散落英國、韓國及大中華區，實務上從投前的盡調評價、投中的structuring及documentation、投後的monitoring及hedging到exit全部都是親自主導及參與。能夠在絕對精英主義的香港buy-side talent pool中被看見進而獲得一個做自己想做的事的機會，對我來說在Kellogg的時間及學費是完全地paid off。

What factor(s) has/have been key to your career success since Kellogg?
Think from others’ shoes. 一件幾千萬美金的private deal牽涉到許多stakeholder，要drive the whole deal dynamic to reach an acceptable, if not optimal, outcome，只能以對方為出發點來交涉。舉例來說，我今天可以structure a deal 100% in my favor，保底、抵押什麼都來，但是被投資方為什麼要接受這樣的條件? 如果對方就貿然接受了會不會有詐? 整個deal cycle中很多時候都是在想對方會怎麼做。我發現這樣的思維貫穿了Kellogg的課堂，不僅僅是negotiation, strategy, organizational behavior這些課，就連finance classes也是。

What advice you would give to applicants?
Start the process ASAP! 別跟自己說還沒準備好。Talk to people and you may find you’re more ready than you think, 又或者在申請過程中你就不知不覺把自己準備好了。儘早考GMAT、儘早思考how to present yourself as a leader、儘早準備essay、儘早丟application。進了Kellogg之後也是要儘早修resume、儘早約career coach、儘早network。這就是一條跟時間賽跑的不歸路。

What course would you recommend students take at Kellogg to prepare them for success afterwards?
Mergers and Acquisitions, LBOs and Corporate Restructuring by Jose Liberti
號稱一門課有三門課的workload，教授是極少數以財務課程獲得Professor of the Year Award (2014) 的Jose Liberti，為了這堂課每個禮拜總有一、兩天要跟三個組員奮戰到凌晨三點，但是絕對值得。這堂課讓我們模擬了10個著名併購/重整交易的決策過程，了解到各個deal中value-creation的過程及value-destruction的原因，也學到諸如incentive conflicts between debt-holder/equity-holder等的重要觀念，都讓我現在做special-sit investments受益匪淺。正課之外還有workshop教導做各個deal需要用到的technical skills，也全部是Jose親自來教，非常推薦喜歡corporate finance的同學。但如果你比較重視睡眠，可能recruiting結束後再修比較好。