r/private_equity

My family runs a real estate company in the UAE and over time we built a pretty substantial software platform for the business. We’re now thinking about selling the tech/IP as an asset to another company instead of trying to contact a ton of potential buyers ourselves.

My dad agreed that getting a proper sell-side M&A advisor might make sense and he’s going to look for someone through his connections. The idea would be that I explain the platform to them properly, what it does, what another company would save by acquiring it instead of building everything themselves, and then they figure out how to position it and approach multiple strategic buyers.

This is my first time being involved in anything like this though, so I’m curious how much difference a genuinely good advisor actually makes. Can they realistically create enough competition between buyers to get a much better outcome than selling directly?

I’m also trying to understand the fee side before we talk to anyone. I’d much rather have something heavily based on a success fee than pay some massive retainer upfront, but I don’t know what’s considered normal for a smaller deal like this.

Mainly just looking for advice from people who have been on either side of these transactions. What would you look for in the advisor, what would make you immediately avoid one, and what should we be careful about in the engagement agreement?

Not looking for buyers here btw, just trying to understand how this process actually works before we walk into it completely new.

A Private Equity Firm buys companies, and sells them over a span of time.

A Holding Company buys companies, and holds them for an indefinite amount of time, AND can also sell them over a span fo time if the opportunity arises.

So a HoldCo has the option to hold companies permanently and/or sell them. But a PE firm is limited to just selling the company.

So is there really any advantage to opening a PE firm, when you could open a HoldCo and have more freedom and options?

Whats the advantage or difference in opening a PE firm, when eveything in a PE firm can be done in a Hold Co?

At 20x entry, a 60:40 split implies 12x debt, which no lender will fund? Does the debt percentage simply fall away debt stays at 5–7x and equity absorbs the rest?

How do we make assumptions for different tranches of debt for LBO model and how do we arrive at the spilt between equity and debt quantum

I’ve worked at three PE firms. One would only do deals if they felt very good about the management team (or at least their ability to fix / change the team). The other is more willing to overlook this if they believe in the business thesis.

Curious, broadly, what’s the experience of others??

What is the consensus on reapplying to an Associate position at a PE firm the next year after being rejected following several rounds of interviews? From the outside, I can see pros--it demonstrates strong interest and gives you another at-bat with now enhanced experience and skills. Is that how recruiters/firms view it, or is it frowned upon?

Insights at any level would be helpful, but especially in LMM.

Hey guys, I created a simulated PE firm that does LBO deals and i have an issue. So the issue isnt recruiting analysts, its actually getting them disciplined in completing the work that has to be due. It feels like many of our analyst end up straying off after a weeks because this is online. Do you guys have any advice in recruiting people who are actually committed. Maybe like strengthen our application process or any marketing tactics that reach the right audience. Obviously compensation cannot be a a resolution because we are simulated. Our "firm" is more about teaching high school and college students how to do financial modeling not a resume booster. We've had our work reviewed by analysts from apollo global mgmt, stepstone group, and access holdings which i guess can be a hook as we continue to reach our to more proffessionals. heres our site.

Picture mid-market business - solid EBITDA and high growth. Young-ish ownership/management.

Two minority offers.

Option 1. PE with specialization in the field. 10% more enterprise value. Preferred shares with a PIK of 10%. Modest leverage (1x EBITDA).

Option 2. Sovereign wealth fund. Evergreen, no timed exit necessary. Greater leverage (2x EBITDA).

Curious if, from a qualitative perspective, anyone has strong insights or opinions. Thanks.

Going through renewals for next year's budget and it's the same list as always: three tools that all do some version of reporting, a $60K/year platform renewal nobody's fully using, and what would actually break if we don't renew.

Our head of ops keeps asking why we're paying for some of this when we could probably just build a lightweight version in-house using Claude, since our one technical hire can apparently spin up something functional in a couple weeks. I don't have a good answer. I can't tell if that's a real option or if we'd be trading a known cost for a maintenance headache nobody's priced out. So now every renewal conversation has this extra question hanging over it that we didn't used to have to answer.

Anyone actually gone through this calculation seriously? Curious what made you decide to keep paying vs. build it yourselves and what was the impact of it.

Private equity firms often burden companies and sports teams with massive debt for quick profits, leading to underinvestment, job losses, and declining quality. Now, they’re eyeing FIFA, which could prioritize short-term gains over the long-term health of global soccer. It is never a positive… look at restaurants. IMHO.

I’m looking to connect with serious investors, strategic buyers, business brokers, or M&A advisory firms regarding the sale of a large, operating mid-to-high-market agribusiness assets.

Target investors/buyers: Gulf countries (GCC/Middle East), China, India, and Asia in general.
Not targeting the USA/Europe.

I’m particularly interested in:

- Direct investors or strategic buyers interested in acquiring agricultural businesses/assets.
- Business brokers or M&A advisors with an established network of investors/buyers in the above regions.
For brokers/advisors: SUCCESS-FEE-ONLY cooperation (no upfront fee or retainer).

If you are an investor/buyer yourself, or can directly connect us with qualified parties, please feel free to reach out.
Any relevant recommendations, introductions, or contacts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

A principal at a private equity firm that works with aerospace/industrial companies got back to me after I reached out and wants to set up a call.

I’ve been doing some research before the call, and I’ve seen people debate whether private equity is actually a good fit for aerospace. One thing I keep seeing is that PE firms can bring a lot of money to these companies, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have the experience, people, or platform to actually improve the business. I’ve also seen people talk about the cycle of firms buying aerospace companies, building them up, and then selling them to another PE firm.

I’m trying to understand this better before the call. What are some genuinely good questions I could ask him about this? I don’t want the basic questions. I want questions that show I actually did some research and am interested in how the industry really works.

Talking abt this with a buddy in Growth Equity the other day , the concept was take all AI-agent startups funded in 2026, or a YC batch, freeze that cohort, and trade on outcomes like what percentage raise another institutional round within 2 years. Over time, the market price would effectively become a live measure of how expectations for that startup vintage/theme are changing.

Why hasn’t someone attempted this

I am trying different paths wonder if someone can share a workable path to, finding LPs, home offices , placement agencies, etc…

**Heyy!!**
**I'm a teen student currently trying to learn the basics of financial analysis and corporate finance. I spend a lot of time reading about how Private Equity funds evaluate companies, but textbooks mostly talk about clean spreadsheets and ideal scenarios.**
**I’m curious about the real-world side: when you are reviewing a target company's initial pitch deck or financials, what is the most common red flag or fatal flaw that makes you instantly drop the file?**

I’m learning equity research and decided to make Haleon my first proper deep dive. I’ve tried to approach it like an actual institutional-style report: investment thesis, five-year financials, a DCF with defended assumptions, risk factors, catalysts, and, ultimately, a clear BUY/SELL call.

I’ve also gone through the annual report, MD&A, risk factors, and notes to the accounts rather than just relying on the headline numbers. Basically, I tried to read the stuff people usually skip.

Now I’d really appreciate some brutal, honest feedback from people who actually know equity research.

A few things I’d specifically like you to tear apart:

1. Valuation I’m using a 7.5% WACC and 3% terminal growth. Are those assumptions actually defensible for Haleon, or am I being too aggressive/conservative?
2. Thesis Is there anything important I’m missing? Particularly risks, catalysts, or something that could fundamentally undermine the margin-expansion story?
3. Structure Does the report resemble a proper equity research report, or is there too much unnecessary stuff and not enough of what actually matters?
4. Data Do any of the numbers look suspicious or inconsistent? Are there particular figures or sources I should cross-check?
5. Overall quality What would I need to change to take this from “student learning equity research” to something that looks genuinely institution-ready?

The basic thesis is:

Haleon owns brands such as Sensodyne, Advil, Panadol and Centrum. Revenue growth has been relatively weak, but margins have expanded significantly, with operating margins around 22.5% and gross margins around 64.8%. FCF is around £2B annually, while net debt/EBITDA has been coming down toward 2.6x.

My argument is that the market is overly focused on the revenue growth miss versus management’s 4–6% medium-term target and is underappreciating the margin expansion, cash generation and potential H2 2026 recovery.

My DCF gets me to roughly $11.50 versus a current price of about $9.70, so I’ve landed on BUY.

I’m still learning, so I’m much more interested in someone telling me where the analysis is wrong than telling me what I did well. Haleon_first_equity_report

Hello the company I work has had a PE ownership for 6 years and now there ready to sell. My question is it always a bad thing when this happens? Alot of us employees are getting concerned.

They bought right before Covid definitely made alot of positive changes. But as of late alot of the sales team has quit because they don't like the new Sales lead.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I am an entry level analyst at a good Reg + commercial due diligence firm based in a major city on east coast USA. Most of their clients are PE clients.

It is the type of company where one wants to become a subject matter expert on something specific within healthcare while also supporting investors on navigating CMS/HHS regulations + translating finc impact.

The issue is that it does not build up the type of deal execution/raw technicals that IB typically builds up; I feel as though this is what PE firms in HC space mainly care about, regardless of specialty.

Would a pivot to MBB/T2 consulting make more sense for an eventual PE exit? or an MBA?

Full disclosure, I don't know much about business. You may need to speak to me like I'm 5 here.

But I am trying to find out how much a private equity firm is worth. I have tried scanning LinkedIn, Pitchbook, and business news articles but found nothing. Any suggestions on where to search next?