About Bain & Company’s Private Equity business
Bain & Company is the leading consulting partner to the private equity (PE) industry and its stake-
holders. PE consulting at Bain has grown eightfold over the past 15 years and now represents about
one quarter of the frm’s global business. We maintain a global network of more than 1,000 experienced
professionals serving PE clients. Our practice is more than triple the size of the next largest consulting
company serving PE frms.
Bain’s work with PE frms spans fund types, including buyout, infrastructure, real estate and debt. We
also work with hedge funds, as well as many of the most prominent institutional investors, including
sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments and family investment offces. We support our
clients across a broad range of objectives:
Deal generation. We help develop differentiated investment theses and enhance deal fow by profling
industries, screening companies and devising a plan to approach targets.
Due diligence. We help support better deal decisions by performing integrated due diligence to assess
the market dynamics, a target’s competitive position and margin expansion opportunities, and by
providing a post-acquisition agenda.
Immediate post-acquisition. We support the pursuit of rapid returns by developing a strategic value-
creation plan for the acquired company, leading workshops that align management with strategic pri-
orities, and directing focused initiatives or wholesale transformations.
Ongoing value addition. We help increase company value by supporting revenue enhancement and
cost reduction and by refreshing strategy.
Exit. We help ensure that funds maximize returns by identifying the optimal exit strategy, preparing the
selling documents and prequalifying buyers.
Firm strategy and operations. We help PE frms develop distinctive ways to achieve continued excel-
lence by devising differentiated strategies, maximizing investment capabilities, developing sector
specialization and intelligence, enhancing fund-raising, improving organizational design and deci-
sion making, and enlisting top talent.
Institutional investor strategy. We help institutional investors develop best-in-class investment programs
across asset classes, including private equity, infrastructure and real estate. Topics we address cover
asset class allocation, portfolio construction and manager selection, governance and risk management,
and organizational design and decision making. We also help institutional investors expand their par-
ticipation in private equity, including through coinvestment and direct investing opportunities.
Bain & Company, Inc.
131 Dartmouth Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 USA
Tel: +1 617 572 2000
Global Private Equity Report 2019
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Contents
The beginning of the rest of the story. pg .1
1. The private equity market in 2018: What happened. pg .3
Investments:.More.strength,.same.challenges.pg .3
Spotlight.on.China:.Navigating.the.new.economy.. pg .13
Exits:.Strategic.buyers.keep.the.party.going.pg .17
Fund-raising:.The.capital.continues.to.fow. pg .21
Spotlight.on.GP.equity.stakes:.Will.the.bonanza.continue.pg .27
Returns:.Despite.a.drop,.PE.still.outperforms.pg .32
Key.takeaways.pg .36
2. What’s happening now: The strategies shaping private equity
in 2019 and beyond.pg .37
Buy-and-build:.Powerful.strategy,.hard.to.pull.off. pg .37
Merger.integration:.Stepping.up.to.the.challenge.pg .46
Adjacency.strategy:.Taking.another.shot.at.diversifcation.pg .58
Advanced.analytics:.Delivering.quicker.and.better.insights.pg .67
3. Private multiples are ascendant: Is this the new normal.pg .73
Global Private Equity Report 2019
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