Changing the World of M&A
Changing the world of M&A is certainly a lofty goal but if necessity is the mother of invention, we have seen the institutionalization of M&A forcing new ways to generate alpha. Long gone are the days when you could simply lever a company with cheap debt and then pay off that debt to generate an IRR that would consistently beat the public market. The real owners of creating this differentiated alpha are the operators that have spent their careers in the P&L trenches. Many of the best private equity firms have seen this evolution first hand and so we have developed a unique business to connect the most thoughtful private equity professionals to these return focused, operationally savvy executives.
The Only Constant is Change
My “Aha! moment” came after spending almost two decades as an investment banker. We would spent a great deal of time working to win the right to sell an asset and thought that all of the answers could be found when building complicated financial models to spit out the true value of a company. In fact, the models could spit out any answer you wanted and after reviewing hundreds of models and comparing them to the actual outcomes, I realized that it was the operators that determined the delta between good, bad and even exceptional returns.
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is quoted as saying "the only constant is change" and we believe this holds true in the world of M&A today. Perhaps we are changing only a small part of this industry but I enjoy being a river guide for the best Operators around the world as they think through ways to deepen their understanding of how to augment their career. This can often be accomplished without making a career change and done so through board roles, co-investment opportunities and equity participation. I have enjoyed this privileged position to make thoughtful connections between the world’s best operators and private equity investors and look forward to helping both groups work together to create this differentiated alpha – and to change (even a little bit) the world of M&A.