Tamara Sakovska - The Private Equity Toolkit

A time-tested strategy for approaching companies directly

How to make the most out of your first meeting with a deal target

Key Topics:

Develop an edge in opportunistic deal sourcing with the DATABASE Roadmap™

No luck required: why having a clear focus pays off in an opportunistic deal search

Actions you can take now to get the most out of your professional network

How active brand management can help your fund stay top of mind

Creative ways to supplement your opportunistic deal ideas

How to manage your deal origination workflows effectively and effortlessly

Does a dedicated business development function work for everyone?

Key Topics:

Why killing deals is as important as doing deals

How skilled investors overcome biases and minimize investment errors

Why the best investment of your career might be a deal you never pursue

Nine deal breakers you need to check for before proceeding on any deal

Key Topics:

Save time and effort: why it makes sense to evaluate the transaction dynamic first

If you choose to remember one thing about deal selection, make it the business model

The four most common sources of competitive advantage for any business

Forget the detail: just a few key financial metrics that matter for deal selection

How clever structuring can help you overcome valuation concerns

Key Topics:

Why motivating superb managers is the key ingredient in private equity's secret sauce

Why the best CEOs are not the charismatic and articulate leaders we see in movies

What makes the job of a private equity CEO among the most demanding in the world

Nine key qualities to look out for when assessing CEOs for private equity businesses

How you can apply the latest best practices in your assessment of management teams

Key Topics:

Why skilled investors explore business fundamentals before diving into the numbers

Key problem areas to spot immediately in every business plan you review

How to poke holes in overoptimistic projections and make your investment case add up

Ten cold, hard questions that every solid business plan needs to address

My trusted business plan tool: Master List of Most Common Drivers of Value Creation

Key Topics:

Enterprise value, headline price and cash consideration: why they are each different

How experienced investors use flawed valuation methods and still get to the right answer

Seven valuation metrics and six valuation methods I like (and hate) to use

Two valuation approaches for those times when you find “difficult to value” companies

You've done the valuation: How much will you pay to win the deal?

Key Topics:

Capital structure considerations: what type of leverage to use and when it is too much

Management Incentive Plans: target A, reward A and achieve A

Enhance your deal through earn-outs, earn-ins, escrows and vendor loan notes

Minority deals: negotiate robust exit rights or be held hostage by majority owners

Advanced deal structuring techniques for minority investments

Key Topics:

What to expect in a typical private equity transaction process

Don't “boil the ocean”: ten principles of a well-managed due diligence effort

Who does what and why you need it: an anatomy of the key due diligence workstreams

Key Topics:

Why you don't need to be a lawyer to provide valuable input in legal negotiations

How to translate due diligence findings into legal clauses in the deal documentation

My cheat sheet summary of common issues in the key transaction agreements

Key Topics:

Develop your own success formula with a Value Creation Plan

Four value-accretive actions for every portfolio company to consider

Create powerful performance improvement momentum with a 100-Day Plan

Governance and reporting: strategic priorities of a well-run private equity board

When things go wrong: spot the first signs of company distress and take radical action

Key Topics:

How to exit a minority investment (effortlessly)

Exiting a majority transaction: Should you time the market?

Conventional exit routes: an IPO, strategic sale or sponsor-to-sponsor buyout

Can't exit your investment? Alternative deal monetization strategies to the rescue

The finishing touch: exit preparation roadmap for every portfolio company

I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, who supported me throughout my book-writing journey and helped bring this project to fruition. A warm thank-you to my wonderful husband Frederik, who was the first reader of every chapter in the book (not always entirely by choice). I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support of my children, August and Daria. Thank you for coming with me to my office during numerous weekends and inspiring me to persevere during challenging times. I also would like to thank my sister Julia, my parents and grandparents for instilling me with a strong work ethic and teaching me the importance of critical thinking.

I am fortunate to have an extraordinary group of friends, many of whom encouraged me to write this book and provided constructive comments on my manuscript: thank you, Stefan Loesch, Oksana Denysenko, Helena Clavel-Flores, Irina Grigorenko, Vittoria Stefanello, Leopoldo Carbone, Julia Shur and Oksana Tiedt. In addition, I am grateful to Lee Barbour for delivering first-class editing support, and to Emma Stefanello and Michael Majdalani for providing excellent research assistance.

I would like to express my gratitude to Eli Talmor, Dirk Donath, Giampiero Mazza, Joshua Rosenbaum, Joshua Pearl, Alex Emery and Ted Berk. Each of these highly accomplished individuals were kind enough to read my book and provide me with their personal endorsement.

A special thanks to everyone in the Wiley team who assisted me in making this book a reality: my acquisitions editor, Bill Falloon, my assistant acquisitions editor, Samantha Enders, my managing editor, Purvi Patel, and my Editorial Assistant, Samantha Wu.

Finally, I would like to say thank you to a long list of brilliant work colleagues who taught me everything I know about private equity and dedicated their time to developing my investment acumen early in my career. I can't name you all, but you probably remember the long hours we worked together and know who you are, folks. Thank you!

Tamara Sakovska is a private equity investor, board director and the founder of Lavra Group. She has over two decades of finance and investment experience gained at Goldman Sachs, HarbourVest Partners, Warburg Pincus, Permira, Eton Park and Global Family Partners.

Tamara's investment experience includes originating, leading and executing leveraged buyouts, minority and control growth equity transactions as well as private investments in publicly listed companies. She has also invested in private equity funds-of-funds and structured strategic co-investment partnerships with institutional investors, corporations and ultra-high-net-worth family groups. During her investment career, she has gained in-depth, global transaction experience across 14 countries in the technology, telecommunications, energy, natural resources, real estate and consumer sectors, among others.