One vendor deskacross thewhole portfolio.
Your portfolio companies buy from many of the same vendors, one contract at a time. The Portfolio Vendor Desk puts one team on all of it: shared vendors, renewal dates, and the negotiations that move EBITDA.
Each company negotiates alone.
A portfolio of mid-market companies often holds the same software, cloud, telecom, payroll, insurance broker and agency relationships, each signed separately, at different prices, by people who negotiate once a year.
Operating teams are stretched across deals and board work. The renewals keep coming, and each one is a small decision nobody escalates. Added up across the portfolio, they are not small.
Portfolio spend map
Payables from each company mapped to common vendors, contract values and renewal dates. The first time most sponsors see shared spend in one place.
First renewals
Contracts renewing in the next six months, negotiated with the evidence the map provides. Early savings each company can see.
The desk
One renewal calendar across the portfolio, negotiations run on time, and a quarterly report by company for the operating partner.
Evidence a buyer accepts
Savings documented to invoice level, ready for the quality-of-earnings work and the buyer’s diligence team.
What it does not do.
It does not force every company onto one contract. Some vendors will price a portfolio agreement. Many will not, and some contracts prohibit sharing terms. We use shared volume where it helps and each company’s own bargaining position where it does not.
Each company’s data stays inside its own engagement. Pricing from one company is shared with another only when both agree and the contracts allow it. Management teams opt in and keep their decisions.
Commercials
A program fee for the portfolio, with negotiations that can run on a share of savings above a baseline agreed before we start. Companies can join as their renewals come up.
Related: Private equity Sell-side readiness Vendor Cost Value Bridge
Straight answers.
Do portfolio companies have to take part?
They opt in. The program works with each management team, not around it, and the CFO keeps the decision on every contract.
Is pricing shared between portfolio companies?
Only when both companies agree and the contracts allow it. Otherwise we use what we know about the market, not the other company’s terms.
How many companies does it need?
It works best when several companies share major vendors. The spend map shows that in the first weeks, before you commit to the full program.
What categories does it cover?
Software, cloud, telecom, payroll and benefits administration, insurance brokers, agencies and media, facilities and professional services.
How many vendors do your companies share?
Fifteen minutes. Tell us the portfolio and we will tell you where we would look first.