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In case you missed out on our last episode, please find it here.

Today’s Rundown

• From search fund to holdco

• A searcher’s acquisition playbook

• “90-day cash crunch” after acquisition

• 2 deal / launch announcements

• 8 new career opportunities

Database Overview

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Weekly Highlights

• Acquiring Minds launched a new podcast episode on a searcher’s second act: building a $25m holdco:

  • Eric Calderon began career as an engineer, discovered search funds at HBS in 2013, raised a traditional search fund with Rick & Royce as sole equity partners; conducted a 15-month geographically/industry-constrained search (Houston & oil/gas), reviewed ~165 deals, 16 IOIs, 3 LOIs; acquired LK Industries (niche oil testing equipment manufacturer) for ~3.5× EBITDA on $6–7M revenue & ~25% EBITDA margin

  • Post-acquisition faced oil/gas downcycle (2016–17), reduced headcount, managed working capital (inventory optimization), and opportunistically bolted on calibration/testing company Miller & Weber, diversifying into recurring-revenue testing, inspection, and calibration (TIC) with exposure to oil/gas, medical, and food sectors

  • Eric sold the combined business in 2018 to a PE platform (double-digit IRR despite revenue dip), stayed 18 months post-sale; later re-acquired LK when PE exited; LK now part of TXE (~$25M total revenue) alongside other TIC and niche manufacturing companies

  • Founded TXE v2 (2020) as a long-term hold “holdco” hybrid targeting industrial TIC businesses with $0.75–1.5M EBITDA, building shared services (marketing, finance, HR/recruiting) to support small opcos; sources mostly off-market via owner-to-owner relationships, aided by AI-enhanced prospecting

  • Flexible deal-by-deal independent sponsor model with co-investors (including current opco presidents); seeks high-leverage structures (50–60% debt, seller notes where possible) and long-term dividend yield for LPs; open to opportunistic exits but underwrites for ~7-year holds

  • Growth strategy includes bolt-ons, occasional product-manufacturing acquisitions in TIC sector, regional clustering in southern/mid-US, and “operating partner” model for remote acquisitions

• M&A Zing launched a new podcast episode on Jan-Marc Pickhan’s playbook: transforming UK engineering SMEs through acquisition:

  • Jan-Marc is a former Schneider Electric executive with over 10 years’ experience in Germany, Switzerland, and France, relocated to the UK in 2022

  • Since then, he has co-led the acquisition of five engineering and fabrication SMEs across three groups, each employing 10–40 staff, primarily from retiring or health-affected owners

  • He targets undervalued, owner-operated “fixer upper” businesses with multi-million GBP revenue and 15–25% EBITDA, aiming for a 20–40% margin uplift through cultural change, process documentation, and back-office and system upgrades

  • Jan-Marc’s acquisition playbook focuses on local and regional supply chain–critical firms; directors spend 6–12 months working inside each business after closing to learn operations, identify inefficiencies, and build trust with staff

  • Transformation efforts have reduced single-person dependencies by more than 50 percent, replaced full management teams in underperforming units, reimplemented MRP systems, and removed long-standing operational bottlenecks

• SMBootcamp shared insights about the silent killer of SMB deals (and how to avoid it):

  • A “90-day cash crunch” occurs when a newly acquired small business runs out of liquidity within the first three months, often due to underestimated working capital needs, lack of a line of credit, and hidden transition costs

  • Common causes include initial revenue dips of 10–15 percent, vendor credit loss after asset purchases, delayed receivables due to bank or PO box issues, employee departures or wage demands, and customer attrition - particularly when key accounts represent 20 percent or more of revenue

  • Many buyers make the mistake of maximizing post-close ownership at the expense of post-close liquidity, leaving themselves without the cash buffer needed to absorb operational disruptions and unexpected expenses

  • Maintaining sufficient cash on the balance sheet and securing a line of credit at closing acts as insurance, providing time to learn the business, manage unforeseen costs, and avoid short-term panic decisions that damage long-term value

  • Smart operators treat liquidity as a survival tool, not as capital for growth initiatives, ensuring the business can withstand early operational shocks and reach stability beyond the 90-day mark

Deal / Launch Announcements

• 🇵🇱 Stability Capital, a search fund managed by Pawel Malon & Marek Jakubow sold Singu, a property management platform, to K1 Investment Management, a small cap private equity firm (link)

• 🇪🇸 Antonio Castro Valencia and Alejandro Vizcarra Lizarzaburu launched Caupa Capital, a sector-agnostic search fund (link)

Career Opportunities

• [PE-Asset] Head of M&A | PER | Frankfurt (apply)*

• [PE-Asset] M&A Analyst / Junior Associate | Maritime & Healthcare Group | Berlin (apply)

• [PE] Investment Associate | Oaktree | London (apply)

• [PE] Portfolio Monitoring and Reporting Associate | PER | Munich (apply)*

• [PE] Investment Intern | Fidelio | London/Stockholm (apply)

• [PE] Investment Intern | Summa Equity | Oslo (apply)

• [PE] Investment Intern | Temasek | London (apply)

• [PE] Investment Intern | Temasek | Paris/London (apply)

_*Headhunter

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