“I do get the point that a PE firm who's long-in-the-tooth on a deal is incentivized to rein in / defer spending to goose EBITDA and therefore EV - that of course happens. But cut those costs / defer that spend too aggressively, and any new buyer will see right through it and factor those dollars into their offer.”
Find people who are actually operators and have done it in the seats. I see too many PEs hire ex-consultant heavy folks. Nothing against consultants, brilliant people some of them, but until you done it (and have some scars) from the actual driving seats and that accountability, you won’t get the outputs expected.