Keynote - 12 Is the New 5: Reinventing Value Creation for the New Era of Private Equity

The math of private equity has fundamentally changed. With higher financing costs, less leverage, and limited multiple expansion, delivering attractive returns now requires significantly greater operational performance. Return levels that once required 5% annual EBITDA growth may now demand 12%.

For mid-market private equity firms, this raises the stakes for value creation and puts operating partners at the center of the investment thesis. But winning in this environment requires more than doubling down on the traditional playbook. This session will explore how leading firms are rethinking value creation, from identifying greater upside during diligence and accelerating commercial and operational improvements to harnessing AI and building repeatable capabilities that deliver results across the portfolio. We'll examine what it takes to move from incremental improvement to transformational performance and what operating partners must do differently to win in this new era.