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Today’s Rundown:

• RDCP 2024 Annual Letter

• Bending Spoons, a consumer mobile apps rollup

• Odevo acquired German property management rollup

• EIF Private Equity Mid-Market Survey 2024

• Launch of referral program (support us and earn a CVC share!)

Weekly Highlights

My most insightful news of calendar week 1 that caught my eye.

• Sameer Rizvi, founder and CEO of London-based RD Capital Partners (RDCP), published his 2024 Annual Letter:

  • RDCP is a British SME rollup in verticals such as healthcare, food, wholesale, and manufacturing

  • Over 9 years, RDCP has made 31 investments that have been consolidated into 12 companies, employing >2,000 employees

  • The RDCP portfolio generates £305m in run-rate revenue and £30m in run-rate EBITDA, resulting in continuous high double-digit IRR growth

  • Sameer’s learnings of 2024 include:

    • Do not overestimate risk and underestimate opportunity

    • Invest like you might own the business forever

    • Make offence the primary strategy for growth

    • Accept the chaos and the challenges that come with growth

  • In 2025, RDCP aims to generate £305m in EBITDA through completion of their live pipeline of sizeable acquisitions of high-quality businesses

  • RDCP’s performance vs. S&P 500 and FTSE 100:

    

• Bloomberg covered Milan-based Bending Spoons, a consumer mobile apps rollup:

  • In 2024, Bending Spoons generates $700m in revenue with 200m monthly active users

  • “Since buying Evernote last year, Bending Spoons has snapped up five other companies. That includes Dutch file-sharing service WeTransfer, which had shelved plan for an initial public offering that would’ve valued the company at €716m just a couple of years before its sale, and the assets of Meetup, a bankrupt events-listing business that briefly belonged to WeWork.”

  • “Early this year, Bending Spoons went after Vimeo Inc., a publicly traded online video site worth $690 million at the time, but a deal never materialized.”

  • Bending Spoons purchases “distressed businesses with a steady cash flow that sell subscription software. Then it brings in twenty-something coders and data scientists in Italy who add features and sometimes push the limits of what subscribers will pay.”

  • “Investors compare Bending Spoons to Constellation Software, which sells to an assortment of businesses including car dealerships and spas, and Barry Diller’s IAC.”

  • “When we acquire these companies, we do so to own them forever. We’ve never sold one. When you own something forever, there is a very big incentive to think long term.”

• Odevo, a leading property management company for residential real estate in EU and USA, acquired Cologne-based Erste Hausverwaltung:

  • The transaction signifies Odevo’s strategic entry into the German market, underscoring their ambition to establish themselves as a market leader in Germany

  • Erste Hausverwaltung is a rollup of property managers, combining a proprietary software to enhance operational efficiency 

  • Erste Hausverwaltung operates 8 companies under one roof and manages >20,000 units across Germany

• European Investment Fund’s (EIF) Private Equity Mid-Market Survey 2024:

  • “Despite improvements in the macroeconomic framework conditions, PE Mid-Market fund managers still observe difficulties in their business environment.”

  • “Fund managers highlight important challenges for both their portfolio companies and their own PE Mid-Market business.”

  • “However, there are signs that the market environment is improving, and expectations going forward are now much more optimistic.”

    • 62% of fund managers expect a slight/strong increase of valuation of their portfolio companies

    • 54% of fund managers expect the exit opportunities to improve

Career Opportunities

Looking for a new challenge in private equity, rollups, and search funds? Here are the latest career opportunities for you.

• 🇩🇪: Corporate Strategy and M&A Lead - Spryker - Berlin - (apply)

• 🇬🇧: Corporate Development Director - Forefront Equity - London (apply)

• 🇩🇪: M&A Manager - PER - Hamburg/Munich (apply)

• 🇩🇪: M&A Manager - Sweco - Frankfurt (apply)

• 🇩🇪: M&A Associate - Constellation Software - DACH - (apply)

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