Private equity is considered as a prominent asset class that claims its peculiarity with the coupling of strong capital and debt capacity and managerial skills. Whereas the financial side of private equity backed deals has already been object of extensive research under several points of view, the managerial side is a relatively less explored field. Therefore the purpose of this study is to investigate the key success factors of the holding period phase with a specific focus on divisional buyouts. The analysis is conducted on an unique 1364 deals sample; the impact of the six different strategic approaches is measured and then compared between the divisional and the standalone subsamples.