Serial Acquirers

Serial Acquirer Book

Gustaf Hakansson
|
February 19, 2022
We’re all serial acquirers. Kind of. Be it as public investors building portfolios, operators picking projects, or actual "serial acquirers". I hope this book can be interesting whichever camp you’re in…

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. Information is provided 'as is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice. Any reference to or omission of any reference to any company should not be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell or take any other action with respect to any security of any such company. The author may hold positions in securities discussed. Any forward looking-statement is subject to risks and uncertainties. Read further disclosure in the Terms of Service.

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Summary: The prospect of long – sometimes ignored – runways of capital deployments at excess returns makes serial acquirers exciting.

Excess profits exist only in some kind of monopoly. And monopolies are reliably available – at a discount – only with an every little helps strategy.

Successful serial acquirers focus on incremental improvements, aggressive capital reallocation, decentralization, and lean overheads.

As perpetual owners, serial acquirers need to buy good businesses, which by definition are asset-light.

Asset-light businesses are also less exposed to inflation. Investors in asset-heavy firms run a higher risk of confusing return of capital for return on capital.

Dive in here.

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The Operator-Allocator Spectrum
How can we justify benchmarking a CEO in a struggling industry against another in a thriving one?
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
March 22, 2024
n Industries – focused on best-in-class small industrials in the UK
“There is room in the market for a native UK champion of many of these great best-in-class established businesses…”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
January 29, 2024
IPO of Next Generation Technology Group (NGTG) – Eiichi Arai Interview
"we designed our own value-creation playbook called NGTG Growth Program or “NGP” after the renowned Danaher Business System"
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
October 5, 2023
Pinecone – deploying the Swedish acquirer model in Japan
“The Swedish model addresses the shortcomings of the conventional private equity model in Japan”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
June 7, 2023
Building the Australian serial acquirer
“I really liked the serial acquirer model and quickly realised there weren’t any Australian-based serial acquirers. So, I set up ‘The PieLAB Council Capital Fund’ as an Australian focussed serial acquirer."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
February 6, 2023
Inflation's relationship with working capital and Buffett on conglomerates
An excerpt from our recent email newsletter
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
November 10, 2022
Lars Stenlund Interview – building Vitec, the Nordic vertical market software company
“A lean, mean, focused machine!”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
November 10, 2022
Johnny Alvarsson Interview – building Indutrade
"we had a German firm where the CEO was 65 years old. He had always had a 10% profit margin. And then suddenly, his margin began to rise. I got suspicious..."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
November 4, 2022
Bergman & Beving – revitalising the original serial acquirer
“The compounder model we are running is that neither organic growth nor our acquisitions should dilute our current shareholders. We have never diluted our shareholders in our 115 years of operations.”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
October 27, 2022
Boreo – a Finnish serial acquirer drawing inspiration from Sweden
“We are the only Swedish-style serial acquirer on the Helsinki stock exchange.”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
September 21, 2022
Fasadgruppen – a decentralized roll-up
“subsidiaries keep their local leadership and brands while at the same time benefitting from certain central functions from the head office (internally known as the ‘service office’)”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
September 15, 2022
Tempeludden becomes Marathon Software, a permanent capital vehicle increasing its investor base before a potential IPO
”Having permanent capital changes your mindset from the classic PE five to seven-year holding period. We strive to fix things on a fundamental level.”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
September 5, 2022
SaaS.group – The Horizontal SaaS Serial Acquirer
“We focus on younger companies that are bootstrapped, run on agile methodologies, and have remote-first cultures.”
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
September 2, 2022
SDI Group Interview – Early days of the Halma model
"We have acquired 16 businesses since 2014 and still have a healthy pipeline of companies that may join the SDI Group."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
August 10, 2022
A.J. Wasserstein – Practitioner & Eugene F. Williams, Jr. Lecturer in the Practice of Management at Yale
"We created a lot of economic value from our programmatic acquisitions, and I could have spent even more time on that function since that was a high-leverage and high-impact activity."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
July 21, 2022
Checking in with Will Thorndike – The 50X Podcast & Compounding Labs
Will Thorndike, author of The Outsiders and very much one in his own right, has launched a podcast. Anyone remotely interested in investing should check it out.
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
July 20, 2022
Dura Software - the niche software acquirer based in Texas
"We currently have more than 3x the pipeline size from mid-last year that meets or exceeds our investment criteria! We intend to capitalize on this current situation and acquire much more aggressively over the next 18-24 months."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
July 18, 2022
Conglomerate discounts, decentralisation, Roper, and Jan Wallander
An excerpt from our recent email newsletter - turning conglomerate discounts into premiums.
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
June 23, 2022
Röko Interview - the perpetual owner is preparing for an IPO
Fredrik Karlsson, of Lifco fame, shares business lessons and Röko's story. And his partner Tomas Billing, former CEO of Nordstjernan, makes an appearance.
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
June 7, 2022
Kelly Partners Group, acquisitions with little equity down
"That gets us to a place where we acquire firms without putting down equity or very little."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
June 1, 2022
Bergman & Beving to Addtech, a best-in-class serial acquirer
High return hurdles can unleash creativity, simplicity promotes a sense of agency, and the importance of pricing.
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
May 25, 2022
Johan Steene & Daniel Zhang Interview - the Teqnion Family
Weathering the financial crisis, building a robust acquisition platform, ultra-running & more! "Selling entrepreneurs stay on because it is fun, not because they must."
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
May 6, 2022
Marcin Szelag Interview - Constellation Software in CEE
"My goal is to build Orbit into the largest portfolio of vertical market software companies in CEE"
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
March 16, 2022
Primer on Serial Acquirers
Also known as M&A Compounders and High Performing Conglomerates
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
July 24, 2021
The Common Tragedy of ESG Not Being G
Individual minorities must demand proper governance as faceless ESG investors stay silent
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
November 17, 2021
The Reluctant Seller
Help write your counterparty's victory speech
by:
Gustaf Hakansson
January 19, 2022
Trending originals
Johnny Alvarsson Interview – building Indutrade
Röko Interview - the perpetual owner is preparing for an IPO
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Worth reading!
Chris Mayer
Author of 100-Baggers
PM & co-founder, Woodlock House Family Capital
Epic
Brett Kelly
Founder & CEO
Kelly+Partners Group
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