In the past years, powerful megatrends have started to impact our daily life. Climate change, the environmental impact of plastic usage and new energy sources are well known topics for all of us. For large corporations, these forces create major opportunities but also major threats. Opportunities, because those making the change fast enough will be on the winning side. And threats because whoever cannot change fast enough will soon be left behind. The race against time is on. A gold rush for some, Titanic for others. 

After 20 years in international executive positions, I have now spent 2 years supporting different businesses succeed in their strategy execution. Here briefly some of my learnings and observations.

Trailmaker has been cooperating with private equity for years and noticed that every private equity company occasionally struggles with a slow-progress case. Private equity investors are running their entry process systematically and professionally. Best available information and experts are being used. Despite this, some cases become slow-movers. Before the execution starts, it is hard to tell which one. A risk of delay lies in every case.

“We have completed financial- and legal due diligence processes and found only very minor red flags. Additionally, all our discussions with the management have been held in a very positive atmosphere. The target company operates in the same market as us and is familiar with the common customers.” - Does this sound familiar? Does this mean we have turned every stone and everything is lined up for another successful acquisition and integration?

PE investors have some 4-6 years to form and execute all decided growth and development plans for value creation. The difference between good and mediocre investment can simply be a result of fast execution of planned strategic changes. Slow execution will postpone value creation or, in the worst case, stop it. In most cases with slow execution, the holding period for a particular investment will be prolonged. This will negatively affect the investor return.