NCL Partners
At a Glance
The most complete published deal arithmetic here, and the clearest example of a program that sounds salaried and is not.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Investment terms, not fees. No fee is charged to a searcher; what the firm publishes about its own side is noted in the row.
- Best For
- A traditional searcher who wants to know how a backer will price and finance a deal before starting, rather than only what size it wants.
- Track Record
- Its home page counts 75-plus years of combined investment experience and 25-plus years of combined asset class experience. A portfolio grid of forty-two companies with a status tag and no person, year or status date, which by its own footnote includes the partners' track record through outside vehicles; an expert network of over a hundred and fifty people. The 22x return named on its people page belongs to a partner's own search fund purchase, which the record here carries with both buyers.
- Lane
- Traditional
- Funds
- The search phase and the deal
- Based
- Austin, Texas.
- Invests
- No investing scope on the pages this review read, so ask whether it will look at a search where you are.
- Buys
- Ratios rather than a band: recurring revenue above 65 percent, EBITDA margins above 15, a history of stable cash flows and low capital needs, low customer concentration, no distressed or turnaround situations, a proprietary rather than competitive process, an average multiple of five to six times EBITDA which it calls roughly half the buyout average, and leverage below three times.
- Before A First Call
- Two doors: a general contact form, and an application for its executive-in-search program on its own page, taking a name, an email, a phone number, a profile link and a resume. It lists a six-step selection from identification and interview through a scoring system, a review of the offering memorandum and further diligence to a capital commitment.
- First-Time Operators
- Its core searcher program asks for a mix of rigor, work experience and academic excellence, which is a profile. Its executive-in-search program does state a post-MBA management requirement, three years on one page and a five-year average on its application page, and that is a real requirement for THAT program only, not for the search it backs.
- How Long The Search Runs
- No length on the search and nothing about what happens if it ends without a deal, on the pages this review read. Ask what the clock is before you sign anything.
- Published Terms
- A target gross internal rate of return of 35 percent, which is the firm's own bar rather than anything a searcher pays; its own footnote anchors the figure to the asset class's average in a business school study.
- What A Searcher Gets
- Not published on the pages this review read. It is the figure a searcher most wants and most of this shelf does not print it, so ask before the first call rather than after.
- After The Close
- Lists quality board composition among what it helps a searcher build through the close.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Publishes the transaction multiple it pays and the leverage it will carry, which almost nothing here does
- Publishes a target return openly, so a searcher can see the bar a deal has to clear
- Publishes a real application with a resume upload for its executive-in-search program
Cons
- Its executive-in-search program describes acting as a searcher's primary limited partner rather than paying a salary, so it is not a salaried route
- Its own pages give two different figures for the team's combined experience
- The firm is mid-rename and six different names for it appear across its pages, footers and podcast blurbs, and its investor login and social handles still carry the old one
What Searchers Say
Named as a backer on the rosters of eight separate searchers, under three different names across their pages, all of which are this firm. Read whole on forty-two pages walked from its navigation, since it publishes no sitemap: its portfolio grid names forty-two companies with a status tag and no person or year, twenty-nine of them rows on the acquisitions record here, and its own footnote says the grid includes the partners' track record through outside vehicles. Its approach page carries an investment criteria list and a six-step selection process, and its two executive-in-search pages disagree on the years of management experience the program wants.
How to Approach
Firms do not publish a term sheet you can prepare against, so this is how traditional (investor-backed) search capital comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- A first conversation on your background and why search, before any deal.
- A deep dive on your plan: industries, criteria, and how you will source.
- Backing for the search itself, then a fresh underwrite when you bring a live deal.
- A board seat and governance once you close.
What It Weighs
- Whether you will finish a two-year search, not only start one.
- The quality of your thesis and target criteria.
- How you will behave on a cap table over a long hold.
How to Prepare
- Bring a sourcing thesis, not a blank slate. Buyer Profile Builder
- Know which firms lead versus follow, and on what terms. Investors
- Make your operator case on one page. Buyer Profile Builder