The Right Lens: Delivering Operational Insight for an HVAC Investment

The Client

Our client is a global private equity firm with a 30+ year track record of investing across private equity, real estate, growth equity, and credit. With over 400 investments made since inception, the firm specializes in partnering with small and mid-sized businesses—typically valued between $50–500 million—and focuses on management-led buyouts, recapitalizations, and operational turnarounds.

Known for its flexible investment strategy and large, multidisciplinary team, the firm is built on speed, pragmatism, and an entrepreneurial approach to value creation. For their latest opportunity—a carve-out from a large HVAC corporation—the team needed deep operational insight to evaluate the deal with clarity and confidence.

The Challenge

The investment team was pursuing a carve-out acquisition of a business within the HVAC sector. While they had strong deal experience, they lacked domain expertise in HVAC operations and market dynamics.

To ensure the investment thesis was grounded in operational reality, the firm needed a seasoned industry executive to serve as a due diligence advisor. This expert would provide a clear-eyed perspective on the business’s strengths, risks, and potential—acting as a strategic partner to the deal team throughout the diligence process.

The ideal candidate would:

• Have deep and specific HVAC industry experience
• Bring a C-suite or President-level track record of success
• Understand the dynamics of residential and commercial HVAC systems
• Have firsthand experience evaluating and executing M&A within the sector

Our Approach

We launched a highly focused search for senior operators with deep expertise in HVAC manufacturing and systems, emphasizing those who had been involved in past PE deals—either as executives or diligence partners.

Our priority was to identify someone who could serve as both a strategic sounding board and a pragmatic advisor—someone who not only understood the operational nuances of the target business, but who also had a history of working directly with private equity firms on high-stakes transactions.

We leveraged our existing relationship with the client—a repeat partner who trusted our ability to move quickly and with precision—to align on the profile and deliver results under a tight timeline.

The Placement

We placed a highly experienced manufacturing executive with over 30 years in the HVAC space. His qualifications included:

• Leadership of an HVAC company specializing in residential furnaces and hydronic heating and cooling systems
• Deep experience in HVAC manufacturing operations
• A strong track record of performing due diligence on HVAC and other industrial businesses for multiple PE firms
• A visionary leadership style combined with an ability to identify growth levers and operational efficiencies
• A long-standing reputation as a trusted advisor on complex, carve-out transactions

With his background, the advisor quickly became an essential partner to the deal team—offering the operational lens and strategic insight they needed to validate the investment opportunity.

The Outcome

The firm was able to engage the advisor quickly, allowing them to proceed through diligence with confidence and efficiency. His insights helped shape key deal considerations and provided the investment team with a grounded, operational perspective on the carve-out’s strengths and risks.

As a repeat client, the firm once again benefited from our ability to deliver targeted, high-impact expertise—demonstrating the value of relationship-driven search in time-sensitive transactions.