INVESTMENT GUIDELINES

Entruevest

OUR INVESTMENT

STRATEGY

Our investment strategy is simple: 

We are focused on acquiring and building small and medium sized “B2B” businesses with a long history of stable revenue and cash flow. 

We are industry agnostic and to-date our team has been involved with more than 30 individual small to medium sized Merger & Acquisition transactions across various different industries including manufacturing, wholesale, distribution, construction, logistics, services and commercial real-estate. 

We are looking for businesses that are the absolute best at what they do.

Although not a requirement, we typically prioritize those opportunities that meet most of the following investment criteria:

Owner managed business

Strong track record (minimum 10 years) with relatively stable revenue and earnings, supported by healthy cashflows

High growth prospects (acquisitive or organic)

Trading in an established market niche with high barriers to entry

Operating within various different industries (apart from mining, agriculture, retail and hospitality where we have limited experience)

Diverse base of customers and suppliers (with little or no customer concentration risk)

Minimum annual turnover of R75m per annum

No material litigations or environmental liabilities

Low staff turnover

Ideally where the owner managers are looking to exit from the business for various reasons which may include retirement, frustration, exhaustion, poor health, emigration or simply the need to diversify their wealth

OUR

PROCESS

The more specific your niche, the more excited we are. The longer you have built your brand and reputation, the stronger base we will have to work from. 

While we calculate the enterprise value of a business using common financial measures, we also place great value on strong, mature brands.

We can move quickly and effortlessly after the first exploratory offsite meeting or cup of coffee, whilst maintaining the strictest levels of confidentiality. 

This process typically involves the sharing of high-level financial information followed by non-binding indicative deal terms which then progresses to a limited due-diligence (conducted in-house rather than external consulting firms) and finally, draft transaction documents for the seller’s consideration. At this point there is still no obligation for the seller to proceed unless happy with the final proposal and signature of the transaction documents (Closing). On average this timeline ranges from 2 – 3 months, but we are guided by the seller.

Entruevest