Delivering value across every deal stage of the private equity lifecycle

The Struggle: Private Equity Firm Seeks Reliable Support

A prominent nationwide private equity (PE) firm was actively building a network of industry-specific advisors to strengthen its portfolio strategy and enhance both deal execution and post-close performance. Faced with increasing deal volume and compressed timelines, they sought specialized diligence professionals who could deliver speed, precision, and scalable support across the investment lifecycle, from acquisition through exit.

However, the firm’s past providers often caused frustration due to delayed responses, frequent turnover, and rising fees. The investor group was looking for a consistent, accessible point of contact who could offer reliable updates and continuity throughout each engagement.

The Turning Point: Gaining Trust Through Successful Engagements

Elliott Davis initially established a relationship with a large, multi-state, physician-led healthcare platform, supporting their sell-side process. After working with us on the other side of the transaction, the partner at the PE sponsor expressed appreciation for our strong communication and collaborative approach. As a result, they engaged us to provide buy-side diligence on a new acquisition target offering academic services to medical school students, further deepening our role as a trusted advisor in their expansion strategy.

Based on our targeted assessments and findings from Quality of Earnings (QoE), tax preparation, and audits, our team identified key diligence issues across IT, financial, and tax areas. We quickly deployed our post-close team to resolve these challenges, leveraging our deep familiarity with the portfolio to avoid onboarding delays and deliver fast results. As part of our due diligence, we created an IT corrective action plan that outlined notable findings, associated risks, recommended remediation steps, and cost estimates.

Immediately post-acquisition, we assisted with stand-up of the internal finance function through completing a finance scorecard and transformation roadmap, including action items across reporting, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), technology, and organizational structure. We also helped with the opening balance sheet and net working capital true-up.

Recognizing the value we brought to earlier engagements, the PE firm re-engaged us to provide sell-side support for another healthcare portfolio company they were preparing to divest. We began the diligence process by requesting key documents and issuing a detailed management meeting agenda full of operational and financial questions. We then conducted a focused interview to explore specific topics in greater depth, along with several rounds of follow-up communication to clarify findings, align with their financial strategy, and address additional questions that arose during our internal reviews.

The Resolution: A Long-Term Commitment Across the Investment Lifecycle

We successfully touched every part of the investor lifecycle for the PE firm, demonstrating our ability to help them both acquire new companies and exit existing ones. Our agile, cross-functional team brought together professionals from IT, tax, audit, transaction advisory, accounting, and finance.

Our work to date includes:

1. Healthcare Sell-Side Support ─ Initial entry point involving sell-side diligence for a healthcare practice, which later expanded into sell-side preparation for another practice.
2. Academic Services Buy-Side Diligence ─ Provided financial, tax, and IT diligence for a major acquisition.
3. Academic Services Post-Close Integration – Delivered a finance scorecard and transformation roadmap (a 100-day plan to establish a high-performing internal finance function), assisted with the opening balance sheet and net working capital true-up, and implemented an IT action plan.
4. Academic Services Add-On ─ Building on the initial acquisition, we supported an add-on transaction for the same academic services company, providing financial, tax, and IT diligence.
5. Healthcare Sell-Side Support ─ Conducted QoE analysis, supported refinancing, gathered lender feedback, and prepared the company for market entry.

Looking ahead, we have more deals on the table and are agile enough to support the PE firm at any stage. Our end-to-end suite of support enables us to consistently deliver value across the entire private equity lifecycle, establishing us as the firm’s provider of choice through our expertise and integrated solutions.

The information provided in this communication is of a general nature and should not be considered professional advice. You should not act upon the information provided without obtaining specific professional advice. The information above is subject to change.