Our thesis
One event creates three needs, and most of them are visible before anyone runs a process. This is how we see the market, and why Myopartner works across capital, talent and dealflow.
The thesis in five parts
Events create needs
An acquisition, a fund close, a raise, a carve-out or a new chief executive each sets off decisions well beyond the event itself. The event is usually public. Most of the work is in what follows.
Needs show before mandates
Most needs are visible long before anyone runs a process. Fund windows, leadership changes and contract cycles show where a situation is forming, while there is still time to act on it.
One counterparty plays several roles
A fund is a source of capital, a buyer of assets, and a recruiter of operators for the companies it owns. Treat those as three separate relationships and most of the value is lost.
Qualification is the work
A name that looks relevant is not yet an introduction. A situation is qualified when it fits the brief, the timing is right, and both sides have confirmed they have the authority and a live mandate.
The record builds
Every introduction is followed up and recorded. What we learn in one lane is available to the other two, so each engagement leaves us better informed for the next.
One event, three needs
When an acquisition closes, the buyer needs funding for what comes next, a finance leader who can report to new owners, and the partners to grow the combined business. That is three needs from one event, usually met by three different advisers.
Capital
Funding for integration and the next bolt-on.
Talent
An interim CFO now, a permanent one after.
Dealflow
Suppliers, partners and the next target.
Every event follows the pattern
The acquisition is one example. Almost every event we watch opens a need in each of the three lanes, and usually at the same time.
An acquisition closes
The buyer needs funding for integration and the next bolt-on, a finance leader who can report to new owners, and the suppliers, partners and next target to grow the combined business.
A fund closes
It has capital to deploy and needs proprietary sight of situations before they reach a process, operators for the companies it buys, and co-investors for deals it cannot hold alone.
A founder-led business raises
It needs investors whose mandate, cheque size and timing fit, the senior hires the round was raised to pay for, and the commercial partners that turn the plan into revenue.
A division is carved out
The business needs a buyer or a backer, a standalone leadership team, often starting with finance, and suppliers and partners of its own.
A leader is replaced
A company with a new function head is usually buying against that decision for months afterwards, which tends to mean new suppliers and advisers, changes to the team below and sometimes new capital.
The signal comes first
Most opportunities are visible long before anyone runs a process. Each lane has its own signal, and we watch all three.
Capital
Vintages, allocation windows, deployment pace. A fund late in its window behaves differently to one that has just closed.
Talent
A company that has just replaced a function head is buying against that decision for the next two quarters.
Dealflow
Carve-outs, supplier mandates and partnerships show up in corporate development activity and contract cycles well before anyone runs a process.
One view of the market
Placement agents, search firms and corporate development advisers each work in a single lane. We work all three from one view of the market, so a situation that surfaces in one lane is already known to the other two.
Qualified before introduced
A situation is qualified when it fits the brief we agreed, the timing is right, and authority and live mandate have been confirmed on both sides. Nothing is passed on before that.
The same five steps run in every lane and every sector: agree the brief, read the signal, confirm both sides, introduce, and follow through.
The thesis in practice
Three engagements that show the thesis at work.
Clean-Seas West Virginia
The facility’s stage, capacity, feedstock plan and offtake decided who was worth introducing. Six introductions in 120 days.
Regent Peak Wealth Advisors
Every introduction stayed inside the firm’s existing client profile. Six qualified introductions in 46 days.
Advanced Medical Sales
The network’s shortfall and the wholesaler’s accreditation were confirmed before the introduction was made.
Where finance meets health
Most of our work sits where finance meets health, in healthcare and life sciences and financial services. The process is the same in every sector, so every sector needs all three lanes.
Further reading
The research behind the thesis, for anyone who wants to go further.
- Why news of jobs and opportunities tends to reach people through acquaintances rather than close friends.Granovetter, M.S. (1973) ‘The strength of weak ties’, American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), pp. 1360-1380.
- People whose networks bridge separate groups see options that others miss, which is part of why we work across all three lanes.Burt, R.S. (2004) ‘Structural holes and good ideas’, American Journal of Sociology, 110(2), pp. 349-399.
- What 79 private equity investors say about sourcing deals, changing management and follow-on acquisitions.Gompers, P., Kaplan, S.N. and Mukharlyamov, V. (2016) ‘What do private equity firms say they do?’, Journal of Financial Economics, 121(3), pp. 449-476.
- How pressure to invest changes what funds pay, and how they perform afterwards.Arcot, S., Fluck, Z., Gaspar, J.-M. and Hege, U. (2015) ‘Fund managers under pressure: rationale and determinants of secondary buyouts’, Journal of Financial Economics, 115(1), pp. 102-135.
- How secondary buyouts perform when the buying fund is under pressure to spend.Degeorge, F., Martin, J. and Phalippou, L. (2016) ‘On secondary buyouts’, Journal of Financial Economics, 120(1), pp. 124-145.
- Leadership change and the decision to sell acquisitions that have not worked.Weisbach, M.S. (1995) ‘CEO turnover and the firm’s investment decisions’, Journal of Financial Economics, 37(2), pp. 159-188.
- How investment and disinvestment change over a chief executive’s time in the job.Pan, Y., Wang, T.Y. and Weisbach, M.S. (2016) ‘CEO investment cycles’, Review of Financial Studies, 29(11), pp. 2955-2999.
- How many executives leave acquired companies, and for how long.Krug, J.A. and Shill, W. (2008) ‘The big exit: executive churn in the wake of M&As’, Journal of Business Strategy, 29(4).
- How placement agents choose which funds to represent, and how their reputation affects which funds they win.Rider, C.I. (2009) ‘Constraints on the control benefits of brokerage: a study of placement agents in U.S. venture capital fundraising’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 54(4), pp. 575-601.
General commentary only, not investment, legal or tax advice.