The Private Equity Toolkit. Tamara Sakovska

selection, make it the business model

       The four most common sources of competitive advantage for any business

       Forget the detail: just a few key financial metrics that matter for deal selection

       How clever structuring can help you overcome valuation concerns

Chapter 6: Assessing the Top Management Team

      Key Topics:

       Why motivating superb managers is the key ingredient in private equity's secret sauce

       Why the best CEOs are not the charismatic and articulate leaders we see in movies

       What makes the job of a private equity CEO among the most demanding in the world

       Nine key qualities to look out for when assessing CEOs for private equity businesses

       How you can apply the latest best practices in your assessment of management teams

Chapter 7: Analyzing the Business Plan

      Key Topics:

       Why skilled investors explore business fundamentals before diving into the numbers

       Key problem areas to spot immediately in every business plan you review

       How to poke holes in overoptimistic projections and make your investment case add up

       Ten cold, hard questions that every solid business plan needs to address

       My trusted business plan tool: Master List of Most Common Drivers of Value Creation

Chapter 8: Valuation

      Key Topics:

       Enterprise value, headline price and cash consideration: why they are each different

       How experienced investors use flawed valuation methods and still get to the right answer

       Seven valuation metrics and six valuation methods I like (and hate) to use

       Two valuation approaches for those times when you find “difficult to value” companies

       You've done the valuation: How much will you pay to win the deal?

Chapter 9: Deal Structuring

      Key Topics:

       Capital structure considerations: what type of leverage to use and when it is too much

       Management Incentive Plans: target A, reward A and achieve A

       Enhance your deal through earn-outs, earn-ins, escrows and vendor loan notes

       Minority deals: negotiate robust exit rights or be held hostage by majority owners

       Advanced deal structuring techniques for minority investments

Chapter 10: Deal Execution: Transaction Process and Due Diligence

      Key Topics:

       What to expect in a typical private equity transaction process

       Don't “boil the ocean”: ten principles of a well-managed due diligence effort

       Who does what and why you need it: an anatomy of the key due diligence workstreams

Chapter 11: Deal Execution: Legal Documentation

      Key Topics:

       Why you don't need to be a lawyer to provide valuable input in legal negotiations

       How to translate due diligence findings into legal clauses in the deal documentation

       My cheat sheet summary of common issues in the key transaction agreements

Chapter 12: Adding Value Through Active Ownership

      Key Topics:

       Develop your own success formula with a Value Creation Plan

       Four value-accretive actions for every portfolio company to consider

       Create powerful performance improvement momentum with a 100-Day Plan

       Governance and reporting: strategic priorities of a well-run private equity board

       When things go wrong: spot the first signs of company distress and take radical action

Chapter 13: Exit Strategies and Deal Monetization

      Key Topics:

       How to exit a minority investment (effortlessly)

       Exiting a majority transaction: Should you time the market?

       Conventional exit routes: an IPO, strategic sale or sponsor-to-sponsor buyout

       Can't exit your investment? Alternative deal monetization strategies to the rescue

       The finishing touch: exit preparation roadmap for every portfolio company

Acknowledgments

      I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, who supported me throughout my book-writing journey and helped bring this project to fruition. A warm thank-you to my wonderful husband Frederik, who was the first reader of every chapter in the book (not always entirely by choice). I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support of my children, August and Daria. Thank you for coming with me to my office during numerous weekends and inspiring me to persevere during challenging times. I also would like to thank my sister Julia, my parents and grandparents for instilling me with a strong work ethic and teaching me the importance of critical thinking.

      I am fortunate to have an extraordinary group of friends, many of whom encouraged me to write this book and provided constructive comments on my manuscript: thank you, Stefan Loesch, Oksana Denysenko, Helena Clavel-Flores, Irina Grigorenko, Vittoria Stefanello, Leopoldo Carbone, Julia Shur and Oksana Tiedt. In addition, I am grateful to Lee Barbour for delivering first-class editing support, and to Emma Stefanello and Michael Majdalani for providing excellent research assistance.

      I would like to express my gratitude to Eli Talmor, Dirk Donath, Giampiero Mazza, Joshua Rosenbaum, Joshua Pearl, Alex Emery and Ted Berk. Each of these highly accomplished individuals were kind enough to read my book and provide me with their personal endorsement.

A special thanks to everyone in the Wiley team who assisted me in making this book a reality: my acquisitions editor, Bill Falloon, my assistant acquisitions editor, Samantha Enders, my managing editor, Purvi Patel, and my Editorial Assistant, Samantha Wu.

      Finally, I would like to say thank you to a long list of brilliant work colleagues who taught me everything I know about private equity and dedicated their time to developing my investment acumen early in my career. I can't name you all, but you probably remember the long hours we worked together and know who you are, folks. Thank you!

About the Author

      Tamara Sakovska is a private equity investor, board director and the founder of Lavra Group. She has over two decades of finance and