815 Independent Sponsor Deals Analyzed
Greg Brown is a Professor of Finance at UNC Kenan-Flagler and Founder of the Institute for Private Capital. On July 15, 2026, he published the first large-scale study of independent sponsor performance, covering 815 deals. Investor-reported transactions generated a 2.86x average gross TVPI and 29.3% gross IRR, outperforming matched non-IS PE deals by 0.73x TVPI and 11.4% IRR on average, with no statistically significant increase in downside risk.
More recent episodes
Acquiring Infrastructure for PortCos
Leah Berend of Merrin Investment Partners shares her dealmaking playbook: embrace imperfect situations and prioritize culture to unlock 4x value growth.
$10m EBITDA After COVID Killed The Business
Nicolás Lulli grew EBITDA from $0 to $10m after COVID devastated his Peru acquisition, using aggressive turnaround tactics and micro-KPIs.
.avif)
One Man's Trash: 5x MOIC on a 14-Deal Waste Roll-Up
Chandos Mahon scaled a tire recycling business through 14 add-ons and KPI-driven ops, exiting at 5x MOIC after 7 years as a searcher-turned-operator.