Private equity firms are pooling their resources to set up crisis-management hubs that can help the companies they already own contend with the wide-ranging effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is “kind of a nerve center that is processing all information from all different sources to be a clear voice to all the different portfolio companies,” said Jason Phillips, a partner and private equity practice leader at consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which advises private equity firms and the businesses they back on a range of operational issues.