2021 marked a remarkable year for private equity across Europe and despite an unstable macroeconomic environment, deal making has remained strong across the continent during the first quarter of 2022, with deal value reaching a new quarterly peak of €241.3 billion. Transaction sizes also grew, pushing the median deal size to €50 million—according to PitchBook’s Q1 2022 PE Breakdown Report, this resiliency in deal activity is due to softer multiples, strong leveraged lending activity and record dry powder levels.
One region that has seen notable growth in private equity deal making over the past decade is the Netherlands. In 2011, the Netherlands closed 180 deals and by 2020, that number almost doubled. Since the Brexit vote in 2016, the Netherlands has increased its presence in Europe’s private equity scene, and in recent years, has started to the narrow the once wide deal volume gap it had with France. The country’s stable economy, robust IT infrastructure and multilingual workforce along with its centralized location are a few of the factors that have contributed to its recent success in private equity.
Here we explore some of the most active private equity firms in the Netherlands, examining their recent and total investments.
Top 5 private equity firms in the Netherlands by number of investments since 2020
*According to PitchBook data as of May 11, 2022.
AlpInvest Partners
Investments since 2020: 182
Total investments: 997
AUM: €60.74B
Founded in 2000, AlpInvest Partners is headquartered in Amsterdam. Some of the firm’s preferred sectors for investing include aerospace, defense, government services, telecom and real assets. With a large global presence, the firm prides itself on its macro perspective, allowing them to identify and pursue the most attractive risk-adjusted global opportunities.
In May, the firm sponsored the acquisition of insurance companies Hanson Insurance Group, Williford Insurance Group and Great North Insurance Services by Hub International.
Waterland Private Equity Investments
Investments since 2020: 152
Total investments: 441
AUM: €9B
Founded in 1999, Waterland Private Equity Investments is a private equity firm based in Bassum, Netherlands. The firm prefers to invest in the outsourcing and digitization, leisure and luxury, consumer products and services and technology sectors. Some of the firm’s recent investments include the sponsored acquisitions of fire protection service CE Sprinkler and synthetic textile company Geotexan.
Main Capital Partners
Investments since 2020: 77
Total investments: 148
AUM: €2.20B
Founded in 2003, Main Capital Partners is a private equity firm based in The Hague, Netherlands. The firm has an exclusive focus on enterprise software companies in the Benelux, DACH and Nordics regions, taking a long-term, value-added investment horizon centered around forging successful partnerships with founders.
Some of the firm’s recent investments include HR software provider BCS and identity and access management (IAM) platform 2ndc.
MaasInvest
Investments since 2020: 42
Total investments: 100
Median round amount: €8.85M
Founded in 2009, MaasInvest is a private equity firm based in Elst, Netherlands. The firm prefers to invest through means of buyouts, management buyouts and growth capital in companies in the media, SaaS, big data technology and health tech sectors headquartered in the Netherlands. Some of the firm’s recent investments include IT platform SYSQA and cybersecurity platform Cryptshare.
NPM Capital
Investments since 2020: 36
Total investments: 210
AUM: €1.10B
Founded in 1948, NPM Capital is a private equity firm based in Amsterdam. The firm prefers to make investments through both traditional buyouts and growth capital. NPM seeks investments in medium to large size companies in the Benelux region within the information technology and software sectors. Some of the firm’s recent investments include 3D printing provider Ultimaker and publishing platform The Leya Group.
Private equity deal sourcing strategies for GPs If you’re a GP trying to identify winning investments or promising acquisitions, here’s a quick, inexhaustive checklist to refer to while you’re performing your due diligence. Each of these steps in the process is made easier and more efficient with access to PitchBook’s robust datasets.
Inform your investment strategy
Conduct detailed market analysis
Analyze growing sectors by examining the amount of capital that has been invested over time in various industries, verticals and deal types.
Identify macro trends
Research the macro trends of different sectors by exploring the post valuations and median deal sizes in various industries, mapping investments over time and examining the distribution of companies by location.
Research exit activity of sponsor-backed companies
Study the exit details of various companies and filter your search by deal amount, min and max post-valuation and deal type.
Compare specific companies
Compare and contrast how different company’s valuations have increased or decreased over time along with their last financing details and total capital raised to date.
Discovering and tracking emerging spaces
Keep tabs on emerging fields to identify spaces in their nascency before your competitors.
Identifying targets that align with your strategy
Creating a target list
Craft a list of promising investments or acquisition targets based on customized criteria, including industry, location revenue, total capital raised, etc.
Search for companies that are ready for funding or acquisition
Identify companies that need an infusion of capital based on their last financing date and employee count.
Connecting with your targets
Once you’ve narrowed down your list, reach out to key decision makers with the information and comps you’ve gathered to negotiate with confidence.
More on private equity
Explore the ins and outs of PE
Read our blog post about private equity and how it works
Dive into the similarities and differences between PE and VC
Check out our blog post for a closer look at PE, VC and how they work together
More on the private capital markets in the Benelux region and across Europe
Explore top-performing Dutch Funds
Read our blog post exploring Dutch funds by IRR
See how European PE fared in the second quarter
Download PitchBook’s Q1 2022 European PE Breakdown report
More on deal sourcing and execution
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