Gerry Schwartz founded Onex in 1984 and remained chairman after Bobby Le Blanc took over as chief executive in May 2023. Onex invests through private-equity and credit platforms. — Onex — CEO Succession Announcement.

Visual summary of operating lessons from Gerry Schwartz, CEO of Onex.

1. Put management quality at the center of acquisition work. Onex describes its private-equity approach as partnering with talented management teams and working closely with them to build businesses. — Onex — Private Equity.

2. Make intellectual honesty part of the investment culture. Onex says its culture is guided by accountability, intellectual honesty and respect for stakeholders. — Onex — Why Onex.

3. A career need not follow a straight line. Schwartz’s own career advice was to allow for a non-linear path rather than expect every choice to follow one fixed trajectory. — Canadian Press — Gerald Schwartz Profile.

4. Avoid paying up merely to put fund capital to work. Schwartz warned that managers under pressure to invest could overpay for businesses, while Onex narrowed its sector focus and sought attractive exits. — The Globe and Mail — Reinvention of Onex.

5. Focus on sectors where the firm has experience and work closely with portfolio companies. Schwartz and his team narrowed Onex Partners to core areas and assigned direct responsibility for investments; the firm emphasizes networks and operating partnership as advantages. — The Globe and Mail — Reinvention of Onex.

6. Keep fund size reasonable to resist pressure to deploy money for its own sake. Schwartz described preferring another fund if needed over a much larger vehicle that would force investment. — The Globe and Mail — Fee Machine.

7. Replace the wrong chief executive promptly. Looking back on his own decisions, Schwartz said personal ties and reluctance to admit a bad appointment had delayed needed CEO changes and damaged businesses. — The Globe and Mail — Invest Like a Legend.

8. Invite serious dissent before committing to an investment. In a 2005 interview Schwartz described coaching deal teams, questioning their theses and treating a substantial minority of dissenting colleagues as a reason not to proceed. — The Globe and Mail — Deal Process.

Sources:

  1. The Globe and Mail: The Reinvention of Onex (Andrew Willis, 2019). — The Globe and Mail.
  2. Onex: Private Equity — Partners in Private Equity. — Onex Private Equity.
  3. Onex: Why Onex — Culture and Alignment. — Onex — Why Onex.
  4. The Globe and Mail: Those Magnificent Men and Their Fee Machine (Boyd Erman, 2007). — The Globe and Mail.
  5. The Globe and Mail: What’s the Big Deal? (John Lorinc, 2005). — The Globe and Mail.
  6. Meet Gerald Schwartz, the billionaire behind the Onex and WestJet deal (May 13, 2019), Kelly Geraldine Malone, CBC.
  7. Invest Like a Legend: Gerry Schwartz (Brian Milner, The Globe and Mail, 2014).