Mergers & Acquisitions names the 2021 Rising Stars of Private Equity, including Access Holding’s Sean McGrath.
Building Trust
“While the inability to meet in person has challenged most private equity firms, it has been a particularly difficult obstacle for my work at Access,” senior associate McGrath told Mergers & Acquisitions. “The majority of businesses I work with are family-owned and operated, and they partner with Access because they want a personal connection that they cannot get from a bank-led deal. These family businesses are trusting me with their lives’ work and the work of generations before them, which makes an all-virtual environment particularly challenging to navigate.” McGrath “set an example to the entire firm with her adaptation of remote relationship building,” said Access founder and CEO Kevin McAllister.
Add-ons, Carveouts
One portfolio company that benefitted from McGrath’s adept handling during Covid was Regency Family, a national company that provides services after the death of a pet. McGrath “led due diligence and was heavily involved in the execution of 13 add-on acquisitions during Covid,” McAllister reported. “She created new tools that are now in use across all Regency locations, including an M&A playbook and a handbook on vehicle routing technology, the implementation of which has greatly improved transparency for consumers and resulted in higher efficiency of the entire pet cremation process.” For another portfolio company, Playfly Sports, McGrath assisted with three corporate carveouts, two of which were completed during the height of the pandemic.
ESG leader
McGrath is leading the team drafting the environmental, social and governance, or ESG, framework for Access and its portfolio companies: “I have engaged in extensive due diligence throughout this drafting process, from developing and distributing an ESG survey across our portfolio companies to determining baseline initiatives to researching and conducting interviews among private equity firms with well-established ESG frameworks to ensure that our policies are purposeful, responsible, and far-reaching.”
She also mentors students at alma mater Johns Hopkins and heads an internal committee, the Access Holdings Women in Finance Initiative, to determine paths to empower women. Said McGrath: “As a woman in private equity, it is a priority for me to help the firm develop initiatives aimed specifically at women in the financial industry, as we are greatly underrepresented, especially in leadership roles.”
