Thinking about selling your company? 95% of PE funds say AI met or beat the business case. Only 7% of portfolio companies run AI at scale.
95% of PE funds say AI already met or beat the business case, yet only 7% of portfolio companies run it at scale. Buyers are pricing that gap into the multiple, and training the team early is what closes it.
Private Equity are bullish on chemical distributors. They are holding these companies longer now and counting on operational improvement to carry the return. The deals getting done in 2026 are smaller and more specialty focused, so the upside depends on how well the acquired team actually runs the business.
However, most PE executives expect AI to produce real value inside their portfolios within 18 months, yet far fewer believe their companies are ready to implement it. At a distributor, that gap runs wider. Most folks there are good at sales or good at chemistry. Few are good at technology, and nobody asked them to be until the deal closed.
When you announce an AI initiative without training, the team will go quiet. They’ve already decided what it means for their jobs, so nobody fights it. They wait it out, and waiting kills a tool faster than complaining ever could. Employees feel AI will take their job so why rush the implementation?
Training your teams changes that. Start in the first quarter, while everything is already changing anyway, because new habits form easier when the old routine is gone. People who learn the tool firsthand see it takes order rekeying and document chasing off their desk and gives them back time for customers. Technology should elevate your people, and training is where they find that out.
One more reason it pays. Your PE buyer will ask how the team uses AI, and the answer gets priced into the multiple.