Student Reflection by Eesha Bhatia (C’28 W’28, Hindi target)
This summer, I interned at CPE Capital, a private equity firm based in Sydney that invests across a range of industries in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. My role was a generalist private equity intern, which meant I worked across both the deal team and the operations side. I helped with everything from financial modeling and market research to preparing internal materials for investment decisions and investor presentations. Also, I worked on a longer-term project exploring how AI could be used in private equity across various functions.
I was motivated to pursue this experience because I wanted to get deeper exposure to the buy-side in a more global setting. Having previously interned in New York, I was curious about how PE worked in a different market and culture, especially one on the other side of the world. Since the Australian market is not particularly saturated, CPE deals in a variety of verticals. This is different from the US, where PE firms tend to focus on one or two specializations. So, I got to work across a variety of industries, from defense to data centers. It was also an interesting time to join CPE, as the firm was wrapping up one fund and starting the process of raising their tenth one, so things were always buzzing.
This experience was extremely enriching, and one of the biggest things I’ll take back to Huntsman and Penn is how important it is to adapt your communication style in a professional setting. Through both coursework and this internship, I started paying more attention to how people prefer to receive information. For example, I adjusted how I gave updates to a more direct and concise format based on my manager’s working style. I also saw cultural differences in language. For instance, I was given an assignment regarding a portfolio company’s “stock” and it took me a while before I realized that “stock” meant “inventory,” not share price as it does in the US. 
I also learned how much initiative matters. The structure at CPE was fairly flat, so I had to be proactive about asking for work and managing multiple projects at once. It pushed me to become more independent and confident in learning new skills, even when I didn’t have all the answers.
Overall, this internship gave me a better understanding of private equity and made me even more excited about working on the buy-side in the future. Most importantly, it gave me the opportunity to experience a brand new country’s culture and work environment.
