London, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/28/2022 -- Talent acquisition is a priority for private equity firms looking to ensure executive roles at portfolio companies are optimally filled, and executive leadership teams are primed to deliver resilience, profitability and growth.
The private equity (PE) market has proven its potential for going against the curve over the past 12-24 months, bucking many of the trends that have slowed other sectors down. With PE fundraising forecasts surpassing $330 billion last year, there is huge momentum behind an industry that continues to break records. And this is already proving to be something of a tinderbox for the private equity and CFO recruitment market in 2022, which is set to go stratospheric.
The need for high quality CFOs and C-level leaders
Finding proven PE leadership is a challenge, one that CFO recruiters are often called in to help manage. The past decade has seen a significant increase in the number of PE firms in the market and this, combined with historically low interest rates as well as economic bounce back, has created conditions where executive search mandates are taking longer than expected. The CFO role in particular is in high demand - for PE firms, this is the most frequent change-out role, whether that is post-pandemic recovery and/or during an acquisition or post-acquisition. Shortages of CEOs and CFOs, with both successful PE experience and specific domain experience, are creating the kind of demand that is lighting a rocket under the recruitment market as we move into 2022.
A hot market for talent
There is one key fact behind the significant growth in the market for private equity and CFO recruitment in 2022: leadership teams working together in a comprehensive and high performing way create greater returns. PE firms today face a great deal of pressure on EBITDA growth to justify what are increasingly recognised as history-defining multiples. This means a hot market for talent with a laser focus on finding the right people at C-level to generate value and deliver on an investment thesis.
"Even the pandemic has not been able to halt private equity activity. As a result, there is a clear need for high quality C-level leaders in order to respond to these pressures and meet strategic need. Leathwaite is a leader in global function executive search, ideally positioned to deliver when it comes to making connections between dynamic PE firms and the CFOs and C-Level leaders that are driving value creation in the current environment. Leathwaite has a proven track record as CFO recruiters, placing financial officers and maintaining long-term relationships thanks to access to in-depth global leadership talent networks and tested expertise." - Tom Pemberton, CFO Partner and regional Co-Head
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About Leathwaite
Leathwaite are CFO recruiters, leaders in executive search and human capital specialists, delivering an interconnected range of executive search, executive interim and data & insight services. Since establishing the business in 1999, Leathwaite has developed key international client partnerships across a range of industry sectors.