Agilis Equity Partners LLC offers unique opportunity for Wake Forest business students as it pursues a private equity acquisition

Seven first-year MBA students and two new MBA graduates from Wake Forest University Schools of Business will get a unique opportunity this summer as a Winston-Salem company pursues a private equity acquisition.

According to its Web site, Agilis Equity Partners LLC “exists … to identify, acquire, manage and grow a single outstanding operating company.”

The interns and graduates, as well as two part-time employees, will work in project teams to perform a variety of analyses and tasks as Agilis works toward the acquisition.

“Participants’ work will contribute directly and meaningfully to Agilis’ most critical issues,” says Hal Eason, founder and managing director. Eason, who received an MBA with High Distinction — Baker Scholar — from Harvard Business School, is the founder of Plureon Corp., a privately held biotechnology company in the field of regenerative medicine. He is also a former a consultant in the Private Equity Group of Bain and Co., where he advised some of the nation’s most prominent private equity firms.

“The benefit for students,” Eason says, “will be an intense summer of doing the work of private equity acquisition. This is not practice; this is the real deal.

“I want to buy a company to run. I want to own a business, but I don’t want to start from scratch this time. I want to start with teenager, instead of a baby.”

Eason’s background includes time as a corporate trainer, so participants will have opportunities for personal and professional development through things such as coaching and training in research and analytical methods used by leading strategy consultants and private equity firms. They also will give regular presentations to and get feedback from Agilis’ managing director and other project teams, in addition to engaging in a performance review with Agilis’ managing director at the conclusion of the program to identify areas of strength as well as areas for future personal and professional development.

Through the for-credit-program, participants will, for example, identify attractive industries for investment, perform top-down analyses of identified industries, and develop investment theses for industries and specific companies.

“Typically,” Eason says, ”a search fund can take two years to complete a private equity transaction.”

“It’s a long process, but I hope to accelerate this process with the help of Wake Forest University MBA students. I also hope to generate level of energy to make this a great hands-on, dynamic learning experience, as opposed to sitting in cubicle.”

Agilis seeks students who have completed the first year of an MBA program and who show strong interpersonal skills, the ability to work effectively both as an individual and as a member of a team, analytical and problem-solving ability, creativity, and resourcefulness. The program will last nine weeks – June 3 through Aug. 4 – on a Wednesday through Tuesday schedule. Most assignments do not involve a high-level finance skill, so Agilis is interested in students pursuing a range of careers.

For more information about Agilis, contact Hal Eason at hal@agilisequity.com, (336) 499-2673.