Associate, Value Creation, Equities

The Opportunity

With over $70B CAD of assets under management, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s (OTPP’s) Equities Department is embarking on a significant investment to expand and strengthen its Value Creation Team (VCT) globally, including EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) where Equities is looking to expand its already significant footprint.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a collaborative team of private equity investors with top-quartile performance. The VCT is a highly valued partner to deal teams, management teams and Ontario Teachers’ global leadership.

In this position, you will partner with our deal teams and portfolio companies across the lifecycle of our investments, from diligence through exit. You will support the evaluation of new opportunities, support strategy and Value Creation Plans (VCPs) for our direct investments, accelerate specific value levers and ensure we have the right talent in the right roles. You will have the opportunity to work across several industry sectors.

Who you will work with

Based in London, you will join a dynamic, fast paced, entrepreneurial environment with Value Creation colleagues, deal team investment professionals, CEOs and their senior leadership, Boards of Directors, and external advisors.

You will also work with colleagues across OTPP, leading or supporting initiatives that straddle all Private Investments, with a close focus on lead or co-control deals. In all instances, you have the opportunity to work with talented, collegial and hardworking experienced individuals who you will learn from and grow your capability set. Moreover, as a member of the global Value Creation Team, you will actively contribute to the overall best in class approaches across the global portfolio. You will report to the EMEA Managing Director of Value Creation who is based in London.

What you will do

You will have several responsibilities and objectives, including:
- Partnering and building strong relationships with the EMEA direct investing team so that you are seen as a true partner to their teams;- Supporting deal teams on due diligence for new potential investments;- Working across multiple industry sectors and functional areas to identify and drive opportunities to build value within OTPP’s portfolio companies;- Developing the Value Creation Plan (VCP) for new and existing investments. VCP development includes identifying the full potential opportunity of the business, architecting the key initiatives that will drive value during our investment horizon, as well as developing detailed KPIs, mobilisation plans and progress tracking tools to ensure successful execution;- Evaluating implications to current operating models, organisational structures and identifying additional support that may be required to achieve results;- Articulating your findings and recommendations in a pragmatic why which are actionable and implementable;- Leading specific projects with portfolio company executives in EMEA to achieve full potential value in close coordination with Value Creation leadership and deal teams;- Scoping and overseeing work done by 3rd party advisors in portfolio companies within our EMEA portfolio and supporting coverage reviews that coordinate best in class services across Equities activities;- Assessing talent within portfolio companies and ensuing the right organisational structure, health and talent in key value creating and value enabling roles to execute VCPs;- Lead cross-portfolio projects which are driven by the VCT; and- Partnering with the global Portfolio Management team (which is a separate team) to increase the effectiveness of our monitoring and support of the Equities portfolio.

Leadership Attributes

You will embody the values of OTPP in your day-to-day activities as our approach is unique within private equity. Key values required for this role include:
- Inclusive: We seek diverse, global perspectives and an ability to build trusted relationships;- Performance: We are focused on delivering strong, sustainable returns for our stakeholders;- Curious: We are open to new and different approaches to creating value for our investments;- Agile: We are flexible, responsive and like to constantly evolve by embracing change;- Courageous: We are willing to take risks and experiment to forge a path to improve the plan and have an impact on the world.

Key Deliverables in the first 12 - 24 months

Over the next two years in this role, the Associate, Value Creation, Equities (EMEA) will have delivered on the following:
- Become a valued partner to the direct investing deal teams and portfolio company executives;- Created repeatable demand for themselves and the Value Creation function from deal teams and portfolio company management teams;- Successfully supported diligence on selected new investments in the region;- Ensured new investments are successfully onboarded, required governance elements and VCPs are put in place;- Created value directly a