Episode 03 of The Investor Series is live. Riccardo Termini sits down with Chris Maresca, partner at Mergerin, a hybrid evergreen fund that plans to buy between 3,000 and 5,000 small businesses across Europe and North America over the next five to ten years.
Buying at scale
Mergerin targets mature, founder led businesses with less than $2.5 million of EBITDA, typically valued at one to two times earnings. It has completed one acquisition, plans 12 this year and 300 next year, with 50 operational partners in 15 countries handling deal flow and running the companies after the deal.
What makes him pass
Culture comes first. "If you build a toxic culture and then somebody is going to buy you, they've got to fix that. And fixing that is expensive." After that, the financials need to be robust and the revenue safe from being decimated by technology or new competition.
Hold, do not sell
Mergerin returns money to investors from better margins rather than exits, and plans never to sell unless an exceptional opportunity comes along. The goal is steady returns that are less exposed to market swings because they are spread across so many geographies and sectors.
Watch the full conversation and read the key takeaways on the Episode 03 page.
About Malahide Partners. Malahide Partners is a capital advisory firm serving technology companies exclusively, headquartered at 124 City Road, London. The firm advises founders, boards and sponsors on equity and debt raises between $1M and $100M and on M&A, working with family offices, funds and institutional investors across Europe, the GCC and North America. Malahide Partners represents the company and runs the process end to end; it is not an investor or a fund manager.
Media enquiries. enquiries@malahidepartners.com
Sources. The Investor Series, Episode 03, Chris Maresca, Mergerin.
