Main Capital
Main Capital was founded in 2003 in The Hague, Netherlands, by Charly Zwenstra, a former partner at Alpinvest (Carlyle Group), where he oversaw their global technology portfolio.
Today, Main Capital employs around 70 people and has offices in The Hague, Stockholm, Düsseldorf and Antwerp, as well as an affiliated office in Boston, mainly dedicated to the geographical expansion of its European companies.
Main Capital isexpected to exceed €4 billion in assets under management by the end of its current fundraising round. To date, the team has invested in over 150 software companies. The company is independent and exclusively owned by its active partners.
An investment strategy offering a particularly attractive risk/return profile
- For almost twenty years, Main Capital has focused exclusively on B2B software publishers with a well-defined profile.
- These high-quality asset targets always present a high level of recurring sales at entry, offering strong visibility on the company's future sales. Unlike most managers in the lower mid-market segment who are prepared to sacrifice their company's profitability for faster organic growth, Main Capital targets exclusively profitable organic growth with reasonable levels of financial leverage.
- Theresult of this defensive strategy is a historically near-zero loss rate, which is particularly rare in the under €150m segment.
- For every euro Main invests in a new company, an equivalent sum is set aside to finance external growth. In this way, Main achieves high returns through an intensive strategy of external growth (known as "Buy-and-Build").
- Main relies on top-quality management teams, rarely replaced, who are committed to Main's strategy of profitable organic growth and intensification of the buy-and-build model.
- This strategy has enabled Main Capital Partners to offer an asymmetrical risk/return profile: high returns whatever the economic climate, with a very low loss rate.
A real competitive advantage thanks to its size and track record in the lower mid-market
- Main Capital operates in a lower mid-market with a vast universe of opportunities. Thanks to the scarcity of competing specialist funds, Main Capital is able to negotiate numerous over-the-counter deals, enabling it to acquire assets at attractive prices.
- The team's organizational structure and expertise make Main Capital a privileged player in the lower mid-market, able to bring significant operational and strategic value to target companies.
- What's more, Main Capital 's investment teams are organized by geography and target sub-sectors, and work proactively to identify all investment opportunities.
- Main Capital now boasts a top-quality in-house operational and research team. This team provides supported companies with a digital platform featuring a variety of tools and guides aimed at improving their operations (best practices, pricing strategy, integration, etc.) and facilitating reporting with their shareholders.
- Main Capital uses numerous standard KPIs and technological resources to track the performance of its underlying businesses. Thanks to its cutting-edge specialization, Main Capital excels in in-depth knowledge of each niche explored, resulting in ambitious value creation plans guided by constantly improved Playbooks in each sub-sector.
- The firm also organizes several annual events bringing together CEOs, CFOs and CTOs from all their portfolio companies to share their vision, best practices and develop their network.
A model proven locally and successfully extended internationally
Their model worked perfectly in the Netherlands, the historic center of their investment activities, before proving highly successful in the rest of Benelux, the "DACH" region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), the Nordic countries and the United States.
In this way, Main has proved its ability to extend its organization abroad by replicating its strong entrepreneurial culture and modus operandi in other regions.
Main's Senior Management has also proven its ability to identify and develop young talent into partner and negotiator positions in their home countries, while creating autonomous local teams. This strategic program has many advantages:
- It broadens the company's target market, enabling it to be highly selective in its choice of investments.
- It offers investors a geographically diversified portfolio.
- Above all, it facilitates the international expansion of portfolio companies, particularly into the United States thanks to the local presence of the Boston office, which focuses primarily on external acquisitions on behalf of European companies.
MAIN Capital VII
