PE Due Diligence Process?
Hi all,
I have always wondered how PE analysts find bountiful information on private companies. For example, if my senior asks me if Company XYZ is a good investment, what steps should I take to eventually give him an answer?
I sure this is a completely rookie question, but as an equity research intern, who does due diligence on public companies, I find that I can't find much information on private ones. Thanks in advance.
Usually entails a few of the below:
Use your network to reference the business.
Talk to the executives.
Information memorandum (e.g. IM, CIM, CIP) prepared by a sell-side banker
Hire consultant(s) who knows the space to do market sizing, customer referencing, etc
Thank you for your response, but what could I do in particular? Because I'm still a student, I don't have the resources that can follow your advice.
Apply porters 5 forces. Is this company gaining or losing power in its value chain. Secondly: is there something we can do with the current company (optimisation (benchmark opex and nec for instance), add products to the offering, expand to other countries).
Are you currently taking courses or currently interning?
LOL
I'm an intern.
They shouldn't expect a real investment idea to come from an intern with just google. Maybe create a template for how you would think of a private investment, and drop "placeholder" on some mock financial pages.
Use your firm's market research that is available and do a 5 forces on an industry, pick a company, and do a swot analysis.
In private company space, initial investment ideas come from your own work (industry mapping) or from a seller (sell side bank/another PE/maybe even management or board).
1) For own work, an analyst would have access to industry reports, industry experts to interview, consultants to do a deck on key companies. In some countries, you can also find the historical financial statements for private companies.
2) For opportunities coming from external parties, these will generally come with an information memorandum and then access to a data room to perform a DD.
In summary, they don't have bountiful information, but would get that once they engage with the company in discussions. There's also a lot of targeted googling involved. Still, in your position, why would a senior ask you about information on private companies?
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