Fourth Annual Private Equity (PE) Leadership Survey | 2019

Investment success isn't just about the numbers. It's about the people.

The AlixPartners annual Private Equity Leadership Survey has for four years identified the gaps in communication, expectation, and urgency between investors and the leaders of their portfolio companies. Not every deal is made or broken on the numbers alone.

Last year, our private equity (PE) leadership survey—conducted jointly with Vardis—dug deeper into a key aspect of the owner–CEO relationship: misalignment between the two sides on a wide range of critical matters.

In the fourth annual survey, we take a closer look at the ongoing disconnection between respondents’ beliefs and behaviors and between their views on certain topics—most notably, the role of addressing talent needs to drive growth at portfolio companies (portcos). Respondents this year included portco chief financial officers (CFOs), thereby adding richness to the insights to be gained from our survey findings.

Part 1: Assessing the impact of the Investor, CEO, and CFO relationship

AlixPartners leadership advisers routinely assess the impact of this three-way leadership dynamic in the deep data-driven analysis of portco potential and revenue opportunity.

Recommended strategies include:

Proactive management of the triangular relationship between PE sponsors and portco company CEOs and CFOs.
Early understanding of major misalignments related to the role of human capital in PE firms' investment theses.
Disconnect between beliefs and behaviors with regard to the predeal assessment of prospective portcos.

VIEW SURVEY RESULTS

Part 2: Taking charge in the first 100 days

Private Equity firms must act swiftly on a number of key priorities in the first 100 days of an investment deal to significantly raise the likelihood of its success.

Recommended strategies include:

Conducting an independently facilitated workshop between the PE sponsor and portco management team in order to build alignment.
A clear definition of roles and expectations for members of the executive team.