The local private equity market has never been more active with reports recently suggesting there is up to $7B burning a hole in the pocket of the firms seeking to invest across Australia and New Zealand. From the global tier ones to the Australian mid-tier firms; investments are ramping up covering a variety of sectors including retail, technology, agriculture and healthcare.
The majority of new private equity investments require the overall corporatisation and up skilling of the finance function to provide a higher level of sophistication and rigor. Generally speaking, this involves appointing a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to lead that process and implement robust systems, processes and reporting, in order to build a platform to enable the required turnaround and/or growth.
The typical investment life cycle is:
1) Acquisition/Investment
2) Corporatisation/Carve out
3) Transformation
4) Growth – Organic / M&A
5) Preparation for exit
6) Exit – IPO or trade sale
When we are engaged to conduct the search for a CFO, Allura Partners is typically engaged post the deal completing, but in a number of cases we will provide a pre-deal team including a CFO to assist in unlocking a deal. The above cycle usually takes between 3-5 years.
The typical private equity CFO will have a blend of technical, commercial and strategic experience from both large and mid-cap businesses. The technical will ensure the accuracy of the reporting into the Board whilst the commercial and strategic will enable the co-piloting of the investment. The general traits of a successful private equity CFO are grit, resilience, high energy, impact and a hands on, accountable approach. Even though private equity can be highly lucrative when aligned to a successful exit, it is not for everyone and can be very demanding and high pressured.
Partnering with our private equity clients and their new investments, Allura Partners is currently experiencing a massive spike in the demand for CFO’s with private equity experience or the skills and attributes to be successful.
Allura Partners is currently engaged and conducting searches for the following needs:
CFO – Fashion Retail – Sydney – High growth business with global expansion in progress – $230,000 + Equity
CFO – Technology – Melbourne – Rapid growth, leading technology business within a specialist vertical – $250,000 + Equity
CFO – Agriculture / Manufacturing – South Island New Zealand – Large upstream Agriculture / FMCG Manufacturing growth business with plans to develop downstream and embark on further acquisitions – $250,000 – $300,000 + Equity
For more information and a confidential chat please contact Andrew Smith on 02 8821 7302 or [email protected]
