As global economic headwinds reshape M&A activity, carve-out transactions are looking increasingly attractive to both corporate shareholders seeking to divest assets and investors seeking to acquire assets with high growth potential.
Leading these intricate transitions is Peter Rodrigues-Renon, Value Creation Lead at Stax Consulting, with nearly 20 years of experience advising top-tier private equity firms, Fortune 500 companies, and high-growth start-ups.
Known for his hands-on approach to M&A, Peter specialises in maximising deal value and accelerating returns, particularly when executing carve-outs.
In our conversation, he shared his perspectives on the opportunity to optimise commercial growth in complex carve-outs, the potential to drive value creation in software and service businesses, and the importance of strategic debate within the M&A space.
Carve-Outs as Strategic Value Drivers
Carve-outs are increasingly seen as a strategic approach for companies to unlock value within their non-core segments. This strategy allows organisations to streamline focus on core areas while capitalising on the market’s view of the growth and value potential of the carved-out unit.
For Peter, carve-outs represent a powerful mechanism for unlocking value in today’s competitive M&A landscape.
“A successful carve-out requires more than an operational separation. It’s about structuring the deal in a way that maximises focus on a new relationship with customers, pricing, products and growth to drive improvements in EBITDA, cash flow, and operational scalability,” he explains.
He reflects on his work with private equity buyers, noting that each buyside carve-out presents unique challenges.
From the buyer’s perspective:
“You’re not just preparing to transition a business to standalone. You are optimising the growth value creation plan within the holding period whilst balancing the duration, cost and disruption of a carve-out on the management team. It’s an intricate balance between detail-oriented planning and staying flexible enough to pivot when necessary.”
Driving Growth and Operational Separation
Carve-out consultants’ frameworks and methodologies are often derived from balancing pace versus risk. In other words, how quickly a separation can be executed whilst ensuring planned costs are delivered without undue operational disruption.
To Peter, this makes sense to an extent, but it also creates an opportunity for buyers who combine commercial and operational perspectives during the deal process.
“I have delivered a lot of carve-outs. The approach is highly refined, but I increasingly notice that the carve-out advisor industry is incentivised to focus on the drivers of operational complexity in separations, such as shared IT, data, facilities, processes and supplier contracts.
Commercial issues typically have less operational complexity and therefore receive less focus. Yet they can have a disproportionate negative impact on long-term value by impeding growth, fuelling revenue leakage and degrading customer relationships.
Savvy buyers see this and prioritise carve-out effort appropriately to focus on value.”
Scaling Tech and Service Businesses, with a Focus on Growth into the US
Peter’s expertise spans multiple industries, though he has developed a particular concentration in software and platform service businesses.
“I love working with tech and software service companies because they combine high growth potential with a complex history of products, pricing and acquisitions,” he explains.
“These businesses are dynamic, which makes identifying the value opportunity and refining it into a deliverable value creation plan both challenging and rewarding.”
Growth and value creation in these sectors can come from multiple directions.
“Of course the usual ‘go deeper, go wider, organically or through M&A’ playbooks exist. However, a trend I’m observing involves the US.”
“If I had a pound for every business plan I see with a ‘US expansion’ line…” he adds.
“It is seductive, as the market size is compelling and macro factors increasingly favourable. However, deciding whether to buy or build, where to focus, when to move, and with what team and skills can be insurmountable for many businesses.”
In Peter’s view, the challenges of US growth are frequently materially underestimated by European leadership teams.
He advises that:
“Buyers without extensive direct experience of driving US growth or US M&A should discuss value creation during due diligence with experienced US growth advisors like Stax, or at least heavily discount their offer.”
Opportunities for Debate and Diverse Perspectives in M&A
Peter believes that constructive debate among M&A professionals drives stronger strategies and innovation across the field.
“There are so many approaches to value creation and operational diligence, and often experts bring vastly different philosophies to the table,” he explains.
“It would be incredibly valuable to see top minds in M&A discussing the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind different strategies, especially in areas like carve-out value creation where approaches can vary widely.”
Peter sees platforms like Strat Journeys, The Consultancy Group’s community hub for strategy professionals, as an important environment where these conversations can develop.
“Strat Journeys could be a game-changer in terms of bringing together diverse perspectives in a constructive way,” he says.
“When strategy professionals have a space to exchange ideas openly, it fosters growth and creativity in the industry. That’s where real progress happens, through dialogue and challenging each other’s thinking.”
About Peter Rodrigues-Renon
Peter Rodrigues-Renon is the Value Creation Lead at Stax Consulting, with nearly 20 years of experience delivering value through acquisitions, integrations, and disposals for top-tier private equity firms, Fortune 500 companies, high-growth firms, and start-ups.
Specialising in maximising deal value, accelerating growth, and optimising EBITDA and cash performance, Peter has led value creation, due diligence, carve-out and integration projects across a range of sectors.
His work has a particular focus on software and platform businesses, where he continues to drive strategic innovation in M&A.
