ICG delivers Operational Due Diligence and portfolio operational assessments for private equity firms — at every stage of ownership.
Every problem that surfaces at the leadership level — missed targets, margin erosion, leadership instability, value destruction — started as a process failure first. Invisible operational conditions do not stay unseen forever. And invisibility has a cost.
Operational Due Diligence (ODD)
Establish true baseline process visibility during exclusivity. We deploy the Operational Health Assessment™ framework to verify process capability and trace data stability before capital allocation.
Continuous Portfolio Health Assessments
Conduct systematic health check audits across steady-state investments. We expose hidden capacity blocks, trace key process drifts, and ensure metrics match the ongoing investment strategy.
Active Ownership EBITDA Preservation
Reclaim lost EBITDA targets by mitigating shop-floor process friction, implementing Layered Process Audits, and reducing structural cycle waste immediately post-acquisition.
Transition & Playbook Integration
Ensure seamless early ownership transitions. We structure high-impact playbooks, standardize frontline team capabilities, and map executive performance expectations to eliminate post-close friction.
Infrastructure & Automation Audits
Benchmark software maturity, trace metric pipeline stability, evaluate technical debt, and build custom process-automation frameworks that scale without expensive enterprise vendors.
Valuation & Multiple Protection
Audit operational controls and reinforce layered process audits (LPA) before exiting. We ensure your asset's process data is clean, secure, and ready to withstand buyer ODD checks.
The financial model tells you what a business has produced. It does not tell you how the operation actually runs — or whether the organization knows when something is failing.
Note: These invisible vulnerabilities apply to all portfolio companies at any stage — they are not exclusive to pre-acquisition environments.
In operational systems, processes drift long before failures occur. Margin leakage, material scrap, human fatigue, and customer churn are lagging indicators of process degradation.
The cost of correcting process failures increases exponentially as they reach closer to the customer, but these risks can be accurately mapped, contained, and quantified alongside your finance team.
Process Failure Lifecycle™ Diagnostic
For PE Firms: Errors and scrap force active quality-wall inspect loops. Multiple layers of verification protect customer relations, but duplicate operational effort burdens margins.
Select the estimated percentage of undocumented process workarounds and informal spreadsheet reporting patterns inside your portfolio company operations to evaluate your current margin exposure.
Contained Exposure: Standard operational controls exist, but baseline visibility is likely limited to end-of-month financials. Real-time risks remain undetected.
Elevated Exposure Risk: Process friction is active. Hand-offs, documentation issues, and minor defects are actively consuming margin capacity behind the scenes. Multiple contraction threat is moderate.
Critical Revenue Exposure: Structural Process Failure Lifecycle™ is active. Your operations are currently in an 'Invisible Fail' loop. Operational drag is degrading EBITDA monthly and compromising your future exit multiples.
We designed our diagnostic methodology for one specific purpose: to map the operational reality your deal model assumes.
This structured framework operates as our standardized Operational Due Diligence (ODD) process. We analyze data integrity, process safety, and variation points directly alongside your finance team.
Is your leadership making strategic moves based on stable, verified operational data?
Are internal verification and CAPA steps established to catch process drift early?
Maturity benchmarking utilizing ISO standards as guidelines, not certificate pathways.
Does your workforce actively report defects, or hide system friction as an operational risk indicator?
Every organization has process vulnerabilities. The question is whether you find them first — or whether they find you during an audit, lawsuit, or crisis.