The final 12 to 24 months of ownership should be treated as a distinct phase of exit value creation. Simon-Kucher’s 2026 Private Equity Value Creation Study, based on 215 private equity executives, shows how sponsors can use that time to harvest near-term EBITDA, prove what has worked, and build credible upside for the next owner.
With hold periods stretching and exit multiples under pressure, sponsors have less room to rely on market uplift at sale. That pressure is already showing up in the deal environment: 30% of respondents asked about the market cite exiting portfolio companies at target valuations as the most challenging aspect of today's deal environment compared with 1-2 years ago, more than any other factor tested. Yet exit readiness is still often treated as a transaction process rather than a late-hold value creation phase.
Our 2026 Private Equity Value Creation Study, based on 215 private equity executives, examines how sponsors are using the final ownership period to prepare for sale and which commercial proof points give buyers greater confidence. The findings suggest there is still a meaningful gap in industry performance: 51% of high-MOIC firms lean toward actively packaging credible upside for the next owner, compared with 21% of low-MOIC firms.
Exit preparation therefore needs to start before the data room opens. The final 12 to 24 months should be used to harvest initiatives that can still reach EBITDA, build evidence that shows what has worked, and shape the remaining opportunity into a credible next-owner agenda. Commercial proof takes time: sustained price realization, retention, pipeline quality, or sales productivity is more persuasive when a buyer can see a history rather than a last-minute snapshot.
The late-hold objective should change accordingly. Sponsors need to separate initiatives that can still create realized EBITDA from those that should be validated and packaged for the next owner, while building the proof behind both. That requires a deliberate VCP reset, not simply another periodic review.
Make the remaining runway count
Most firms already refresh their VCP with some frequency: 58% revisit pricing or commercial priorities at least every six months, and 88% do so at least annually. But only 15% rank exit timing among their top three triggers for a formal re-underwrite or reprioritization. That leaves a clear gap between VCP cadence and exit readiness: firms may revisit the plan regularly, but few use those reviews to deliberately reshape the agenda for an approaching sale.
As exit approaches, initiatives should be screened against time to impact and the ability to prove the result. Pricing, for example, has the fastest median time to first impact in our study at four months, and 86% of pricing initiatives meet or exceed their business case. Other initiatives may still deserve investment, but only where there is enough runway to generate a result that a buyer can validate before sale.
Sponsors should focus the exit-stage VCP on two priorities:
Harvest near-term EBITDA. Back initiatives with a credible route to realized impact within the remaining hold period, and stop work that is unlikely to mature in time.
Build proof as value is created. Establish baselines, track commercial KPIs, and preserve enough history to show what changed and how the improvement reached reported EBITDA.
This is where exit should reshape the VCP, rather than simply add another workstream. When an initiative cannot deliver and be proven in the remaining window, management should stop treating it as current-owner EBITDA and decide whether it belongs in the next-owner package.
Build the sales narrative around the proof buyers value
A strong exit story should proactively address the evidence buyers are most likely to underwrite. In our study, respondents pointed to five commercial proof points that inspire the most confidence:
Commercial leadership. Buyers want confidence that the organization has the leadership depth and ownership needed to sustain performance.
Commercial KPI dashboards. Clear, consistent reporting helps buyers see how performance is managed and whether results can be tracked after ownership changes.
Price realization tracking. Evidence that pricing initiatives have translated into realized results helps substantiate commercial gains.
Customer retention processes. Repeatable retention routines give buyers greater confidence that customer performance can be sustained.
Customer-level performance analytics. Granular data helps buyers understand where growth is coming from and assess the durability of the commercial story.
These findings point to a sales narrative built around both results and the operating system behind them. Sellers should connect commercial initiatives to reported EBITDA, show who owns the relevant processes, and demonstrate the routines, controls, and data that make performance repeatable. The story is more credible when that proof already exists in the business instead of being assembled during formal diligence.
Package credible upside for the next owner
The same standard should apply to the upside that has not yet been realized. Buyers need more than a list of future opportunities: they need enough evidence to assess the economics and confidence that the business can execute against them. Some initiatives will not mature before exit, but that does not mean they should be abandoned. They should be developed far enough for a buyer to assess the economics, evidence and execution requirements without the current owner needing to complete the full program.
Higher-performing firms are more likely to take this approach: 51% of respondents at firms reporting above-market performance lean toward packaging next-owner upside with proof points, versus 21% at firms reporting below-market performance.
The sell-side standard should mirror the rigor used on the buy side. Upside needs to be diligence-able and executable: size the opportunity, test the key assumptions, identify the required investment and timing, and show how management would deliver it. Where internal reporting cannot substantiate a material claim, specialist vendor commercial diligence can independently validate realized impact and remaining opportunity while aligning the commercial story with quality of earnings and reported financial performance. The same discipline used to buy the company should be applied to sell it.
Start building the exit story now
Sponsors approaching exit should use the final 12 to 24 months to do three things:
Reset the VCP for the exit horizon. Reprioritize toward initiatives with enough runway to create measurable EBITDA before sale, while building the evidence behind the gains already being delivered.
Build the story around what buyers will underwrite. Connect realized gains to reported performance and put the leadership, KPIs, processes, and commercial data buyers value most at the center of the sales narrative.
Package the upside that remains. Develop opportunities the current owner cannot fully capture far enough that a buyer can assess the economics, investment, timing and execution requirements. Use specialist sell-side diligence where material claims need independent validation.
By the time formal diligence begins, the work should already be visible in how the business is being run. The VCP should reflect what can still reach EBITDA, the sales narrative should be backed by operating proof, and the remaining upside should be developed far enough for the next owner to diligence and execute. In a market where exits at target valuations have become the most commonly cited deal-environment challenge, waiting until the transaction process starts is too late.
Explore the findings, benchmarks, and implications from Simon-Kucher’s 2026 Private Equity Value Creation Study.
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