Private Equity & Principal Investors

“This is a home run strategy. Whether the ideas came from my people, or NECG people, we couldn’t have gotten to this point unless we had done it together.”
-EVP, Fortune 100 Company

Our Clients

Our Expertise

Mergers & Acquisitions

Most mergers and acquisitions disappoint because of faulty assumptions, not bad math. At NECG, we bring more M&A experience to every project than any consultant or banker, permitting us to pressure test hypotheses disguised as facts.

For a private equity client whose previous consultants had recommended against proceeding because the acquisition target’s products were prominently labeled as less than 100% natural, we conducted user SuperGroups™ to confirm that they perceived this as positive reinforcement of authenticity and a “reason why” for purchase, permitting our client to proceed with the acquisition and exit three years later with a 6x ROI.

“Unbelievable, and I almost didn’t approve the research because I thought they were nuts. We ended up paying almost twice what we originally thought the company was worth and still making a fortune on the exit.”

-Private equity managing partner

Exit

All private equity firms have some troubled investments, negatively affecting total returns and postponing/preventing exit. And it is not uncommon for these operating companies to have already been through several unsuccessful efforts to turn around the business.

For a private equity client that had tried to exit an investment that competitors of ours had been working on for years, we reversed declining sales and profits in 90 days, conducted market research that supported continued/sustained growth and launched an innovative new business/pricing model, and attracted a strategic buyer for several times the best offer they had received only six months before.

“New England knew the business and consumer better than my team, the day they arrived, and turned what appeared to be a money losing proposition for me and my investors into a triple bagger in real time.”

–CEO, PE owned operating company

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy can be an attractive tactic for an underperforming private equity operating company if there is a plan to restore growth and create value.

For a bankrupt private equity operating company that had been described by the financial press as a “falling knife”, we joined the newly appointed CEO, who had seen us work our magic before at another company. We cut everything from headcount to marketing support and concentrated all our limited resources on two products, two customers and two consumer market segments resulting in our helping our private equity client reposition the business for sale to another private equity firm who preceded to flip it two years later for five times their investment.

“I knew when New England accepted my proposal based on performance compensation that it was time to start shopping for a new boat, which I purchased immediately after our exit.“

–CEO, bankrupt private equity operating company

Diligence

Most firms, private equity and strategic, that conduct due diligence, align behind whatever the senior management wants to have happen, with all the attendant biases, which is why so many acquisitions underperform.

For a private equity firm hell bent on making an acquisition in a category that had worked for them before, we conducted our proprietary DuelDiligence™ process, pitting a team in favor of acquiring with one opposed, and convinced the client that there was too much risk to justify the going price, and they passed.

“Frankly, we were a little disappointed at the time because one of New England’s DuelDiligence™ teams had surfaced new data that we had never even heard of, and that I considered black swans, but we now know that these concerns were very real and that another firm grossly overpaid and can’t get out now, while we were left unscathed.”

–Managing Partner, leading private equity firm

Sourcing

Private equity firms often invest in companies during a competitive auction process almost indifferent to categories, spreading their assets very thin and often having more funds to invest than attractive operating companies to pursue.

For a once-small private equity firm, we screened from a myriad of attractive categories to one with a very large number of attractive small(er) players that could benefit from funds to accelerate growth and a center of excellence in a single category, rather than investing in companies with little in common.

“New England forced us to focus on fewer categories where we could build greater B2C and B2B financial expertise and market scale and build a support group center of excellence to the benefit of all involved.”

-Private equity managing partner

Turnaround

Some private equity operating companies struggle to make their numbers, even though they are sitting on a wealth of riches and opportunities.

For a several hundred million dollar B2B private equity operating company whose growth had stalled and was losing share to global strategics and local start-ups, we identified multiple initiatives in the base businesses and three totally new growth platforms that increased revenues to over a billion dollars and attracted a strategic to acquire the company for several times its previous value.

“I can’t say that I was surprised, because the reason I insisted on New England rather than the firm my private equity owners wanted me to hire, is that they had done this for me twice before and made me quite rich in the process”

–Private Equity operating company CEO

Insights

Maximizing Portfolio Value Through Innovation

In the dynamic world of private equity, the quest for maximizing portfolio value extends beyond the realms of financial engineering and operational efficiency. At the heart of sustained value creation lies the twin engines of innovation and growth. Yet, despite the...

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