STOIX V | Spring Private Equity Market Insight | New opportunities for finance leaders ??

May has brought some momentum at STOIX with multiple new searches signed and kicked off. We continue to meet dozens of CFOs who are very active or at least open to discussing the ‘right’ new opportunities as many business struggle for profitability, exit and some continue with heavy restructuring or cost reduction programmes. There are positives and we continue to meet more and more Investors and businesses who are hiring/ intending to hire, and are anticipating increased deal flow.?

In other news, the third episode of The STOIX Podcast is now live. This is a short but sweet one and definitely worth a listen if you're an aspiring CFO.?

As always, we're bringing bite-size sections of thought leadership, professional advice, market insight and a great opportunity in this month's STOIX V.

Let's dive in??

I. A quote to inspire

“If you ask most smart or successful people where they learned their craft, they will not talk to you about their time in school. It's always a mentor, a particularly transformative job, or a period of experimentation or trial and error.” - Ryan Holiday

II. A piece of good advice

? Don't neglect your personal brand if you're a job seeker in 2024. Find out how a strong personal brand can accelerate your job search.?

III. A glimpse of the market

????"As I’m sure you are aware, Private Equity funds have raised record amounts of capital to deploy.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence — as of April 2024 they had amassed a record $2.63tn in “dry powder” up from $2.3tn in December. This is showing some signs of unlocking, but ultimately many assets remain hard to sell and the bottleneck caused by the above mentioned market conditions, remains for now. As ever, there is a supply and demand issue particularly around successful and proven Tech PE CFOs in particular, who have proven track records in growth and exit. If this sounds like you, it would be great to talk about your plans!

That said, my prediction is there will come a point in the not too distant future, when PE Firms will need to start taking more ‘risks’ with less proven/experienced, less exited and a more diverse pool CFOs. Hiring for attitude, growth mindset, trajectory, appetite and future success, and dare I say think ‘outside the PE box’.

I often see that recruiters are bashed for not pushing ‘leftfield’ candidates harder (we certainly do), however we are paid by our customers not candidates and although we do consult and influence as best we can (one of our values is courage), more often than not, our clients are stubborn and risk averse."

- Neil French, Co-founder and Director at STOIX

IV. A snippet of thought leadership

??A call for feedback and suggestions

With the first season of The STOIX Podcast live, we are interested to hear how our network has benefited from our conversations with our guests.?

??We would like to maximise the value our listeners get out of listening to our podcast. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate your feedback and take any guest or topic suggestions that you want to see in the next season.

?? Simply comment under this newsletter or send a message to a member of our team to share your thoughts.

?? Listen to the first season now

V. An opportunity to seize

?? STOIX were retained by an acquisitive listed business to identify an M&A professional who thrives on delivering multiple acquisitions per year and has long-term ambitions to be a CFO.

The successful candidate will join a high-profile team with global reach and play a key role in driving the organisation's continued growth.

Read more about this opportunity and apply here.

If you're looking for other permanent or interim roles in finance or transformation, keep an eye on our opportunities here.

??Get hiring and job search advice on our YouTube channel

??Find out more about our process and services on our website