Article · Private Capital

Private equity is building a new Big Four. The test is who stays.

The Grant Thornton and CBIZ deal shows private capital can assemble professional services scale faster than any partnership. The proof point will not be the AI investment. It will be whether the senior people stay through the integration.

Share on LinkedInFollow Charles
Four office towers lit at night

The $5 billion CBIZ acquisition, and what New Mountain Capital is building around Grant Thornton, is worth reading closely: nearly 20 firms and 25,000 professionals added in 18 months, a $1 billion AI commitment and a platform heading towards $7.5 billion of revenue. The argument is that private equity has found a faster route to scale than the partnership model, which compounds people and reputation over decades.

The mechanics are right. The conclusion is slightly early. None of this works if the partners whose relationships were acquired walk out before the platform is built. That is the part of the thesis that needs modelling properly, and it is a retention question before it is a technology question.

The section on talent is the one to read twice. A partner comparing annual distributions against equity in a business built to be sold is a different conversation to the one most firms are set up to have. That conversation is coming to Australia. Some partnerships are ready for it. Not all.

For BD and marketing leaders, a platform built by private capital is a different employer from a partnership. The growth plan is written down, the targets are explicit and the function is expected to deliver them with the same discipline as any other part of the business. That suits some people very well. It also means the days of BD as a cost centre that supports partners are over the moment the deal closes.

The firms most likely to be approached in Australia are the ones in the mid market with strong brands, ageing partnerships and no obvious succession. If you lead BD in one of them, it is worth knowing what an investor would want to see from your function before the conversation starts, because it will start whether you are ready or not.

More on origination, distribution and investor relations recruitment.

More insights

The future of law: capital flows and AI. Charles Handley on the Resolution Room podcast
Video · Both sectorsThe future of law: capital flows and AICharles joins Damien van Brunschot and Kim Wiegand on the Resolution Room podcast to talk capital flows and AI in law.
Sydney legal precinct towers at dusk
Article · Professional ServicesPrivate equity in Australian law has been years in the makingThe question is not whether an approach from private equity is attractive. It is what the firm wants capital to achieve, and what that asks of BD.
A bound tender document on a desk
Article · Professional ServicesA $9m tender and a role that should not be filled as designedBrief taken on Friday, role rebuilt over the weekend, operator secured within a week. Two days after she started, the tender landed.
A corridor of server racks in a data centre
Article · Both sectorsFollow the money: the BD work that follows storage and data centresForget the batteries. This is about the second, third and fourth order effects, and the firms that position BD talent against them now.
A paper CV dissolving into a glowing cluster of chat bubbles
Article · Both sectorsYour AI transcript is the CV you did not writeA CV is a polished performance document. The way you think with AI is not. For the first time, how people reason is visible, and it will be read.
A purple pyramid turning into a diamond, lit from within
Article · Professional ServicesThe BD and marketing pyramid may become a diamondTechnology compresses execution. Value shifts to judgement, orchestration and commercial credibility. The firms that moved first already have the longest tenure.
A bonsai tree on a stone plinth in a bright marble lobby
Article · Professional ServicesA bonsai does not become remarkable quicklyFifty placements into one firm’s BD, marketing and client team over fifteen years. The number is not the point. What followed each appointment is.
An empty office floor at dawn
Article · Professional ServicesHiring may be about to change. Here is what I am seeing.Rates are going to rise and consumer confidence sits where it did in 2022. Hiring will not stop. It will concentrate, and the people who own a pipeline will be the ones in demand.
A long straight road to the horizon at first light
Article · Private CapitalThe thirty year bond and your clients’ pipelineLiquidity has already moved. That is the lead indicator. Deal flow, refinancing and mandates are the lag. Firm revenue and hiring come after that.
A distribution professional on a video call in a Sydney office
Market update · Private CapitalDistribution hiring: what fund managers are asking for nowWholesale and adviser distribution demand is strong in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Firms want proven capital raisers, candidates want answers before they move, and time to hire has stretched. A note on the market as we see it.
A pay report open on a desk, a bell curve drawn in brass
Article · Both sectorsSpend, inflate, collect, repeat: why money stays expensive and why that is a reason to hire nowInflation and rates stay high into 2028 at least. The firms hiring now, on the assumption of higher for longer, get first pick of the talent.
A blue and white illustration of a tea house and a woman with a parasol
Article · Professional ServicesHow to build BD credibility and spot opportunities for partners over the breakThe edge in BD comes from spotting quieter signals hiding in plain sight, with lead time. A story about tea in The Economist shows how it works.
A glass sky bridge between two towers at dusk
Article · Both sectorsLegal BD to private capital: the transfer is already happeningIn one month three of the legal BD people we have placed moved into private capital, one as a distribution associate at a private capital manager. Here is why the skills carry, what does not, and what it means for fund managers and for the people doing the moving.
A river winding upstream toward the city at dawn
Article · Both sectorsSenior BDs in law are moving upstream, closer to capitalAutonomous vehicles, digital assets, robotics, energy storage, consumer AI. Different sectors, same pattern: code, data, automation and fast moving regulation. Legal demand is moving from execution to design, and BD roles are following it.
A partner’s notebook with a handwritten client list
Article · Professional ServicesAttributed revenue is not portable client valueBig Law has become a market for portable revenue. Or, more accurately, for the promise of it. The better question is how much of it will actually move.
A conversation over coffee
Article · Professional ServicesThe BD hire who can coach partnersTraining partners to sell only sticks when someone inside the firm reinforces it daily. That is a hiring profile, and it is rare.
Pay distribution curves by percentile band
Article · Both sectorsCommercial BD is on the riseCommercially focused BD roles are on the rise, dramatically. Here is why it is happening, and how to position for one.
A laptop on a boardroom table at night, the harbour behind
Article · Professional ServicesCould everyday AI use help BD teams win more work?Deidentified and aggregated at firm level, the way teams already use AI could show what wins work, and where coaching would lift win rates.
A chess board mid game
Article · Both sectorsWhy the counter offer is usually the wrong answerYou resign, and suddenly there is money on the table that was not there at your last review. Before you take it, ask why it took a resignation to find it.
A fountain pen on a signed letter
Article · Professional ServicesHow to secure a pay rise in professional servicesFirms do not pay for effort. They pay for a case. Here is how to build one that a partner can take to the remuneration committee.
A single sheet of paper with reading glasses on it
Article · Both sectorsThe CV that gets readEvery application to Dalton Handley is read by Charles. Here is what he is looking for in the first thirty seconds, and what gets in the way.
A single chair in a sunlit meeting room
Article · Both sectorsTwo interview questions that changed my lifeAt 21 I was asked how much I wanted to earn, told it was the wrong answer, and then asked what I would spend it on. If you are under 30 and wondering how to get ahead with AI about to change everything, this is for you.
Two armchairs by a window with coffee between them
Article · Both sectorsInterviews are conversations, not examsPreparation should never mean scripting answers. Understand the role, sharpen your proposition, and make it about the client’s problems.
House keys and a letter on a kitchen bench
Article · Professional ServicesInterest rates are a retention problem, not just a pay problemFirms look at CPI when they set pay rises. Their people look at the mortgage. Our data says 76 percent are open to opportunities and 78 percent say salary is a key driver.
A hand drawing two overlapping circles on glass
Article · Professional ServicesFirms are asking for a different kind of BD personA trend is accelerating across law firm BD and client hiring. The brief is now commerciality: people who can find opportunities, coach high performing partners and turn relationships into measurable growth.
A timber staircase rising to a bright landing
Report · Professional ServicesStepping up in professional services: what it takes and what you should be paidThe BD and marketing career ladder, with what each rung pays and what it takes to climb it. Bandings are orientation, not gospel. Titles vary by firm. Packages in AUD including super.
A team structure sketched on a whiteboard
Article · Professional ServicesDo you need a CMO, or a head of BD?Firms reach for the CMO title when what they are actually short of is revenue. Here is how to tell which hire you need.
A boardroom overlooking the city
Article · Professional ServicesClient listening is a hiring decisionEvery firm says it listens to clients. The ones that act on what they hear have put someone senior in charge of it.
A bright modern office with a red keep calm poster on the wall
Article · Professional ServicesTackling redundancy and re entering a competitive job marketRedundancy in a tight market is hard. It is not the end of a career. A practical guide for BD, marketing and communications people who find themselves out of work.