Peter Keller: Our Principal Private Equity & Industrials Consultant

Having spent years working with private equity clients, we are delighted to have added to our offering in this space by welcomingPeter Kelleras Principal Consultant for our Private Equity & Industrials team. He has joined our Interim Solutions and Private Equity Director,Lenny Michael.

Now that Peter has well and truly settled in, we thought it would be a good idea to outline his experience in this sector while providing an overview of the market and what to expect as we expand our private equity practice.

Peter has completed search assignments in over 40 countries. His early-career experience saw him build out finance teams for a variety of clients, includingTescoin China,Nikein the Netherlands, andDiageoin Nigeria. He also recruited accountants into territories such as Guernsey, Jersey, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, though much of Peter’s work for the past 15 years has focused on the private equity sector.

Prior to joining Venari Partners, Peter spent over a decade atKellerGreen, a boutique executive search firm he co-founded. This organisation focused on the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) with clients primarily operating in the industrial sector consisting of family-owned, publicly listed and private equity-backed multinationals. He also supported a number of turnaround-focused private equity investors, focused on the successful transformation of distressed assets – or, as Peter puts it, ‘The Repair Shop for capitalism’.

He is an expert in assisting private equity firms acrossCAPEX-heavy industries including automotive, construction, chemical manufacturing, engineered products, energy, and diversified industrial tech, helping clients in these sectors to identify, attract, and retain the strongest talent across C-suite, board, M&A, restructuring, transformation, and portfolio operations roles. This requires Peter to be across all details and trends in an ever-changing landscape.

‘In the high inflation environment of 2023-24, financial engineering, cost cutting or value buying alone will not lead to outperformance,’ Pete notes. ‘Although active management in private equity is nothing new, it has gained even more significance as firms struggle to expand multiples with costlier leverage. The market has become far too competitive and efficient’

In the US alone, there areover 4,000 private equity firmsand almost$4 trillion in uninvested capitalglobally. As a result, it is essential firms focus on value creation post-closing to deliver outperformance.

With leverage expensive and market multiple expansion hampered, the responsibility falls on leadership to drive value creation through margin expansion and revenue growth. It is therefore more important than ever to have the right talent in the right seat to drive the value creation plan – and this is where headhunters can help.

Peter has hit the ground running since joining us, with some big projects in the pipeline for Q3 and Q4 2024. ‘I’ve known Peter for years and was simply delighted to have the chance to bring him on board,’ says Venari Partners DirectorJames Parker. ‘He’s a great hire. It’s really exciting news for the company.’

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