A Review of Interim Private Equity Projects in 2024 & Outlook for 2025

It has been a while since I've pulled together a report of this nature - in the background to this absence, our interim Strategy Consulting & Value Creation team at Investigo Executive ( InX ) grew our revenues significantly from 2023 ( +400% NB: we didn't launch until H2 2023 ) - & built our presence extensively across the European landscape of Private Equity funds & their portfolio companies through the deployment of interim consultants ( typically with an ex Mckinsey, Bain, BCG, Big 4, top boutique etc background ).

As we come into an important year for our growth & continued endeavours of establishing ourselves as a leading operator within this market, I thought it would be worthwhile reflecting on the work that we did in 2024 and give a quick overview of our approach and focus for 2025.

1. Project Insights

In 2024, we worked on a broad variety of engagements - supporting a wide range of project types for private equity funds / their portfolio companies.

Breakdown of Project Types

• Growth Strategy and Commercial Excellence (31.25%): The largest share of projects focused on accelerating portfolio company growth and enhancing commercial performance, highlighting our clients’ strategic priorities in competitive market expansion and scaling operations.
• Transformation Office & Value Creation (18.75%): Much of our work during 2024 was supporting funds in building / shaping / executing value creation plans through the deployment of top tier interim consultants.
• Digital or AI Initiatives (12.5%): The digital transformation trend remains strong, with clients turning to our 'bench' for expertise in leveraging artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies.
• Carve-Outs (12.5%): Carve-out projects showcased the depth of our bench on the topics of integrations / separations.
• Supply Chain Optimization (6.25%): We worked on a select number of supply chain & efficiency engagements.
• Product Development (6.25%): & we also supported innovation-driven projects that delivered significant enhancements to product portfolios ( within fintech ).
• Pricing Strategy (6.25%): We worked on a comparatively small number of pricing engagements, delivered by former Simon-Kucher consultants.
• Modelling & Quantitative Analysis (6.25%): Our consultants provided advanced analytical support for data-driven decision-making.

Given our bench of over 4,000 interim consultants, we were able to flex in order to match the different value creation plans / projects are clients were seeking to meet.

2. Consultant Backgrounds

As alluded to above, with over 4,000 interim consultants on our 'bench' ( 45% with a background from MBB with the remainder coming from other top consulting firms / big 4 etc ) we were able to draw from a wide array of talent - ensuring that our clients were able to access the world's top interim consultants for their projects - bespoke to each individual requirement. Below is a breakdown of the projects that we worked on by the consulting background of the interim consultant that the client selected:

• McKinsey, Bain & BCG - 65.4%: Contributed to 65.4% of our work in 2024 - with an exact split between the three firms.
• Big 4 - 16.8%: Consultants with Big 4 backgrounds provided a well-rounded mix of operational and transformation experience.
• Top boutiques - 18% ( LEK / SKP / McKinsey Quantum Black ): Where specific pricing / AI / diligence skills were required, clients opted to engage consultants from our bench with more specialist skills.

3. Engagement Duration

Depending on the requirement of each client / project, we worked on projects spanning from 1 month in duration ( often short strategy requirements for PE funds ) right through to 12 - 18 month engagements ( typically transformation / value creation oriented within portfolio companies ).

Breakdown of Assignment Durations

• 1-3 months (41.2%): Short-term assignments were often focused on high-priority, time-sensitive deliverables such as pricing strategies / AI diligence / market assessment etc. Of these initial 3 month engagements, >60% we're extended ultimately into longer projects / slightly expanded scope.
• 4-6 months (29.4%): Medium-term projects, such as growth strategy execution and operational transformations, formed the core of our engagement types.
• 7-9 months (17.6%): Longer engagements typically involved complex carve-outs and strategic implementations.
• 10-12 months (11.8%): Year-long assignments were reserved for major transformation offices and high-stakes value creation initiatives.

Average Duration of Assignments: 6.1 months

4. Geographic reach

Our continued focus & networking endeavours across European clients ( typically PE portfolio companies of UK based PE Operating teams ) began to pay dividends in 2024 and we were able to start to gain some real traction with client projects across a range of European hubs including the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Benelux, Switzerland & Italy.

Percentage of Engagements by Region

• UK (24%): The UK remains a key hub - with 24% of our projects were based in the UK, reflecting its status as a area for private equity and a focus on key industries such as SaaS and Fintech.
• France (24%): France emerged as a key market, with significant projects in growth strategy and operational transformations, supported by a strong presence of consultants from BCG and Bain.
• Germany (24%): Despite some substantial economic headwinds, we continued to work with clients in the DACH region, largely on PE / portfolio value creation / cost focussed engagements.

The remainder of our projects we're split pretty much exactly thereafter across Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland & Netherlands.

5. Engagement Hypothesis

Understanding why clients choose interim consultants provides valuable insight into the strategic needs of our clients & why / when they might engage us. In 2024, the client drivers behind the projects that we worked on are as follows:

• Substitute for Consulting Firm (59%): A majority of our clients opted for interim consultants as a flexible, cost-effective alternative to traditional consulting firms. This approach allowed them to access high-calibre interims with top tier consultancy training - without the need to engage one of the firms directly.
• Trial Before Permanent Hire (29%): For 29% of engagements, clients used interim roles as an opportunity to evaluate candidates’ fit for long-term positions within their business / the need for this type of hire on a more permanent basis
• Replacement for Departing FTE (12%): In cases where key personnel had left, clients relied on us to fill critical roles swiftly, ensuring continuity whilst keeping an eye out for a more long term solution.

6. Portfolio Companies - Industries Served

In 2024, we worked across a broad range of portfolio company industries - from B2B SaaS right through to heavy industrials and consumer:

Industry Breakdown

• SaaS (23.5%): SaaS emerged as the leading industry, with a heavy concentration of growth strategy and transformation projects. These engagements were predominantly centred in the UK and France, leveraging expertise from consultants with Big 4 and Bain backgrounds.
• Fintech (11.8%): Fintech projects, particularly in Switzerland and the UK, focused on strategic product development and pricing initiatives
• Infrastructure (11.8%): Infrastructure engagements spanned carve-outs and operational improvements, with a notable focus in Italy and France.
• Insurance (11.8%): Insurance projects centred on AI-driven strategy and digital transformation, with a majority executed in the UK by consultants from QuantumBlack and Simon-Kucher.
• Telecom (11.8%): Telecom engagements were evenly split between transformation offices in Belgium and carve-outs in Italy
• The remaining portfolio company industries that we served spanned across Industrials, B2B Services & Consumer - and represented around 30% of the projects that we worked on

Focus & outlook for 2025 & beyond

As we come into 2025, some of the key areas that we'll be looking to grow & develop:

1) The continued rise of the 'Chief Transformation Officer'

The Chief Transformation Officer within PE investments will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping & executing the value creation plan in tandem with an operating team & portfolio company leadership.

Often times, Operating Teams / PE funds will look to the interim market to meet this requirement - with time to hire being one of the critical hypotheses for doing so.

The role spec, invariably, will be to find someone with the most possible alignment to the value creation plan - whether this be to do with skill set ( eg cost out, transformation, growth etc ) or indeed industry know how.

In some cases - the transformation office / officer role is large and requires leading a team - in others, it is more of a standalone role, almost as a CEO sparring partner - the variation on this tends to be driven by the size of the investment / portfolio company or the reliance on the CTO for the execution of the value creation plan.

This role is very much our wheelhouse and will continue to be our focus as we come into 2025.

2) AI & automation

Whilst the overall exploration & investment in this topic ( at least, via us ) was limited last year across PE funds / portfolio companies, we did support on a few projects ( mostly PE backed tech / SaaS style businesses ) when it came to product development / capability and internal efficiencies.

My anecdotal view on this is that 2023 was the year of 'WOW' factor when it came to AI, but during 2024 things did seem to calm down somewhat when it came to the topic as most exec teams reverted to traditional topics in order to move the needle within their business ( cost out, financial operations, business transformation etc ).

We do expect to see more interest in this topic in 2025 from operating team - ultimately, the opportunities posed by AI are massive and largely untapped - particularly as a lever for information / knowledge sharing across large organisations, product development ( within the technology industry ), and overall operational efficiencies.

3) M&A / Investment Landscape

In my conversations with Operating Teams towards the back end of 2024, things continued to feel cautious, but optimistic here.

We do expect to see a fairly significant uptick here in 2025 vs 23/24 - influencing factors largely driven by:

• Lower base interest rates ( BoE & US Federal Reserve) - most research online predicts a reduction in UK base rate by 0.75%-1% by the end of the year
• US investment in European opportunities - an incoming Trump administration is likely to create a favourable investment landscape for US based PE funds - additionally, favourable exchange rates driven by US monetary policies vs Euro / ￡ Sterling might enhance the investment attractiveness of European businesses for US based funds
• Corporate divestments of non core assets - Many European corporate firms will look to divest non core / underperforming assets in a drive for increased efficiency & free up resource & budget for more value driving initiatives within their core functions which will offer up some interesting opportunities for PE investment teams. See below some interesting case studies that manifest the work that we covered within this space during 2024.

Case studies - 2024

1) Interim Chief Transformation Officer - Large Cap Telecommunications

Requirement: PE funds & portfolio company leadership were coming into a critical point of the portfolio company lifecycle - and sought to begin the process of phasing out a major consulting firm who were supporting with value creation topics, largely oriented around cost out & transformation. As part of the 'phase out', they approached us in relation to supporting them in finding a top tier consultant who could act as the interim Chief Transformation Officer and continue in the stead of the consulting firm in delivering across the key value creation topics.

Consultant profile: Ex BCG Senior Manager with deep subsequent experience in a portfolio company leadership role - & multiple relevant interim engagements.

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2) Interim Chief Transformation Officer - Large Cap B2B Services & Software

Requirement: A large cap B2B Services business / consultancy had cultivated in tandem with their consultancy service a software product as a complimentary proposition for their clients. This component of the business had started to generate a very strong amount of revenue in it's own right - as such, the fund / portfolio company leadership were keen to pursue the carve out of the software component of it's business and needed an interim Chief Transformation Officer to oversee this - and then support in growth, product & value creation topics within the newly carved out software business.

Consultant profile: Ex Bain Manager with very strong experience in software product development, carve out, transformation & Private Equity

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3) Interim Carve Out Director - Large Cap B2B Services

Requirement: A prominent B2B Services business was undergoing a strategic re-org, requiring the carve-out of a specific component of the business. The leadership team needed guidance across people, process, and technology to ensure a smooth separation and successful setup of the carved-out entity. They sought a high-impact consultant to oversee the process and deliver results.

Consultant Profile: Ex-Big 4 Director with extensive experience in carve-outs, transformation, and Private Equity.

Excited for 2025 & beyond ! If you're looking for support in driving critical portfolio company value creation initiatives, get in touch:

[email protected]

If you're an interim consultant looking for your next project within a portfolio company, do also get in touch with my colleague Luiza Bagatini :

[email protected]