私募股权投资人需要思考的五个问题
|
私募股权公司通常都是其投资组合公司的董事会中的活跃分子。几乎所有的投资公司都会密切监视其投资组合公司的战术表现：相对预算的业绩、销售管道分析、现金流监控、利润评估、资本结构优化、估值等等不一而足。公司的战术表现确实重要，然而作为投资者和董事，私募股权投资人的终极角色还是应该偏向于战略方面。投资人很容易迷失在细枝末节当中，而忘记拷问自己那些重大的战略问题。 下面我们列出了5个关键的战略性问题，对于每家投资组合公司，甚至是潜在投资目标，私募股权投资人每过3到6个月都至少应该审视一番。 1、公司的核心战略计划是什么？投资人需要在战略目标的框架内评估战术表现。公司或者业务部门的生命周期基本上就是由一系列的3-5年战略计划组成。计划可以是开发原型产品并赢得重要的首批客户。可以是国际拓展，增加收入和现金流，或者扩展产品线进入邻近市场。可以是通过对成本结构的合理化改革，实现从增长导向到价值导向的转变，或者完成从业务剥离到独立实体的成功转型。也可能是在萎缩的市场中将公司的力量集中于某些核心产品。对于私募股权或风投投资的公司，在3-5年的计划中常常有多种核心战略可供选择。投资人必须持续地评估这种战略计划，如果公司的运营或竞争环境发生变化，该计划是否仍然合适。能够清楚地确认其核心战略计划的公司通常比缺乏战略的公司表现更好。 2、投资人本身的状况是否与该战略计划合拍？这也许是投资人最难以回答的问题，但却是一个根本性的问题。私募股权公司通常善于在收购股权时就排除那些不符合其战略的交易，但在投入资金之后，他们可能不会察觉到战略环境的变化。比如，一个追求成长的私募股权公司投资于一家已经转向慢速增长的成熟期的企业；处于行业兼并风潮中的小公司作为大公司的一个分支可能更加合适；公司着手启动新的5年生产战略，而投资人已经接近其投资周期的尾声…… 这些例子告诉我们，有时正确的决定只能是转手。回答这个问题有时需要勇于承认某项投资的失败，但那也好过在与公司的投资战略不符的企业身上空耗时日。 3、公司的首席执行官能否执行该战略计划？多数私募股权投资人善于发现不称职的首席执行官。难题在于判断是否好人被放错了位置，特别是核心战略发生改变的情况下。有时需要一个有远见卓识的思想家，有时又需要实干型的“修理匠”。有时需要救火队员来扭转乾坤，有时只要一个营销老手就够。思想家的才干不适合于复兴战略，营销专家也解决不了运营效率的问题。 4、投入公司的资本得到适当的回报了吗？公司产品的关键单位经济效益就是必须实现投入资本的充分回报。资本回报率方法在各个行业有所不同（比如，成熟产品制造商和成长阶段的在线软件公司需要关注不同的指标），而资本的成本也不尽相同。但不管处于何种商业阶段，最终核心业务必须能够产生有盈利的收入。没有单位经济效益的收入增长并不值得投资。 |
Private equity firms are generally active board members of their portfolio companies. Nearly every investment firm spends a great deal of time monitoring the tactical performance of their portfolio companies: Performance vs. budget, sales pipeline analysis, cash flow monitoring, margin assessment, capital structure optimization, valuation, etc. The tactical performance of a company is important, of course. Ultimately, however, as an investor and board member, a private equity investor's role should be more strategic than tactical. It is easy for investors to get lost in the tactical minutia and forget to ask themselves the big strategic questions. The following are five key strategic questions private equity investors should ask themselves about each of their portfolio companies -- or prospective portfolio companies -- at least every 3 to 6 months. 1. What is the company's core strategic plan? Investors need to evaluate tactical performance within the context of strategic goals. The lifecycle of a company or operating division is basically a series of 3- to 5-year strategic plans. The plan may be to develop a prototype product and win some key first customers. It could be to expand internationally, scale revenues and cash flow or expand the product set into adjacent markets. It could be to manage the transition from a growth to a value orientation by rationalizing the cost structure, or to successfully transition a company from a corporate spinoff to a standalone entity. It could be to narrow the company's focus to a core set of products in a declining market. There are numerous core strategies that are potentially appropriate 3- to 5-year plans for a private equity or venture-backed company. Investors must also consistently evaluate whether the strategic plan remains appropriate if there have been changes in the portfolio company's operating and competitive environment. Companies that clearly identify their core strategic plan almost always execute better than those that do not. 2. Are we the right owners to execute on the strategic plan? This is perhaps the hardest question for investors to ask themselves, but it is fundamental. Private equity firms are generally pretty good at screening deals that don't fit their strategies at the time of acquisition but they don't always recognize when the strategic environment has shifted post-investment. A growth equity firm with a company that has shifted into slow-growth maturity; a company in a consolidating industry that would better off as a product or division of a larger company; a company embarking on a new 5-year product strategy with an investor near the end of their fund life… These are all situations in which the right decision may be to seek a new owner. Sometimes answering this question requires admitting relative defeat on a certain investment but that is preferable to spending years working on a portfolio company that is outside a firm's investment strategy. 3. Does the company have the right CEO to execute on the strategic plan? Most private equity investors are good at figuring out when a CEO is underperforming. It's more difficult to determine whether a good CEO is in the wrong role, particularly if the core strategy has changed. Sometimes a company needs an entrepreneurial visionary, other times it might need an operational "Mr. Fix-It." Sometimes a company may need a turnaround specialist, other times it may need a sales and marketing expert. A visionary's talents are not appropriate for a turnaround strategy, nor should a sales and marketing guy be focused primarily on operational efficiencies. 4. Is the company earning an appropriate return on invested capital? The key unit economics of the company's products must be earning more than a sufficient return on invested capital. The ROIC methodology varies by industry (a mature product manufacturer needs to monitor different metrics than a growth-stage online software company, for example), as does the cost of capital. No matter what the stage of business, however, at some point the core business must be able to profitably generate revenue. There is no point investing in revenue growth if the unit economics won't work. |
