Value Creation

Toolkit

What Is a Portfolio Operations Group? How PE Firms Build In-House Value Creation Teams

A portfolio operations group (also called a portfolio operations team, value creation team, or portfolio resources group) is the in-house team a private equity firm uses to improve the operating performance of the companies it owns, as opposed to sourcing and structuring the deals. The deal team buys the

Toolkit

Stewardship vs Transformation: The Two Operating Philosophies in Private Equity

Ask two private equity investors what happens after the wire hits and you will get two different answers. One buys a company to keep it: hold it indefinitely, keep the people, take the cash flows, and let compounding do the work. The other buys a company to change it: install

Toolkit

The Operator Supply Gap: Private Equity Bought the Operations Thesis. It Hasn't Hired the Operators to Deliver It.

Every private equity deck in 2026 says the same thing. Returns will come from operations, not leverage. The financial-engineering era is over, the operating era has begun, and the numbers now back the slogan: in S&P Global Market Intelligence's 2026 Private Equity Survey, 71% of

Toolkit

The Continuation Test: Five Operating Questions Before You Roll an Asset Into a Continuation Fund

We treat a continuation fund as what it is: a tool, not a verdict. The same vehicle that lets a genuinely strong company keep compounding under an owner who understands it can also let a tired one dodge the markdown it has already earned. Nothing in the structure tells you

Value Creation

The Private Equity Value Creation Glossary: 14 Operating Terms PE Investors Actually Use (2026)

A plain-English glossary of the 14 operating and value-creation terms private equity investors actually use in 2026, each defined in two sentences with links to the full explainer.

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The Doubled Hurdle: Why Every Private Equity Return Now Runs Through the Operator CFO

The return math in private equity quietly reset. The growth a deal needs has roughly doubled, and it has to come out of the business, not the cap table. The seat that clears it is the CFO, redefined.

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Operating Partner vs Turnaround Firm: When a PE-Backed Company Needs Which

Both promise to fix a portfolio company, but they answer different questions. If the business needs to grow, you want an operating partner. If it needs to stop bleeding, you want a turnaround firm.

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The Eight-Year Hold: Private Equity's $4 Trillion Backlog Is Now an Operating Problem

The deal was underwritten for five years. The company is still here in year eight. Almost nobody planned for the difference.

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What Is an Operating Partner in Private Equity? The Operator's Guide (2026)

What the role actually is when the slide deck hits the portfolio company: definition, deal-stage duties, the five flavours, pay, and where the role is heading.

Value Creation

What Is a NAV Loan? A Plain-English Guide to NAV Financing in Private Equity (2026)

Funds are borrowing against their whole portfolio to manufacture cash. How it actually works, and who carries the risk.

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Continuation Fund vs Traditional Exit: When Private Equity Holds Instead of Sells (2026)

A continuation fund lets a PE firm sell an asset to itself instead of to a third party. How it compares to a traditional exit, when each is the honest choice, and the operator's tells for which one you are really in.

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The Best Private Equity Newsletters in 2026

A categorised, honest guide to the best private equity newsletters in 2026, grouped by role: daily deal flow, institutional trade reads, operator-focused newsletters, and commentary.