Yes, that is the core PE playbook. 1. Acquire loan to buy company 2. Take money that was being spent on growth and use it to make the payments on the debt 3.

Yes, that is the core PE playbook. 1. Acquire loan to buy company 2. Take money that was being spent on growth and use it to make the payments on the debt 3. Try to decrease operating costs while maintaining revenue or increase revenue while maintaining operating costs (or some combination) 4. Sell the company for more than you paid based on the improved profit margins The key is finding a company who's still spending on growth but isn't really growing. If the company is actually still growing then you're going to have trouble making your money back if you cut growth activities (because your initial price would be higher due to implied growth in the future). The challenge is in step three. Can you increase revenue or decrease operating costs without sacrificing too much goodwill? If you do too much to scare away suppliers or customers then step 4 is hard and the whole thing blows up.