Market entry into Germany remains attractive for equity investors

NPM has been active in the field of SME finan­cing for more than 75 years, inclu­ding more than 25 years as part of the holding company SHV (foun­ded in 1948), one of the largest priva­tely mana­ged family busi­nesses in Europe. NPM is now expan­ding its previous focus on the Nether­lands and, for some years now, Belgium into the DACH region. The econo­mic and cultu­ral over­lap between the three regi­ons is very large! With our local, highly moti­va­ted team, we are firmly convin­ced that we are an excel­lent fit for German-spea­king SMEs, where values such as trust, respon­si­bi­lity and acting as equals play a central role. In addi­tion, our parti­cu­larly stable and secure capi­tal base with a flexi­ble invest­ment hori­zon fits in well with the prevai­ling needs in the market in many places. 

We see nume­rous compa­nies in the DACH region that fit perfectly with our four invest­ment focus areas of Sustainable Future, Digi­tal & Tech­no­logy, Feeding the World and Healthy Life & Lear­ning and that can bene­fit from our deca­des of experience.

We don’t have the time pres­sure that some fund-backed compa­nies feel when they open an office in a new market. We can approach deals with caution — that’s a big advan­tage. Nevert­hel­ess, our philo­so­phy took effect very quickly within a few weeks with this invest­ment: Keeping an ear close to the market, getting deeply invol­ved in inte­res­t­ing targets before compe­ti­tors even become aware of them. Of course, our posi­tion as an extre­mely expe­ri­en­ced inves­tor with a long-estab­lished family busi­ness in the back­ground was no less helpful. 

Toge­ther with Elbfrost, we now want to pursue an ambi­tious buy & build stra­tegy. With its opti­mi­zed product port­fo­lio, effi­ci­ent opera­ting proces­ses and broad custo­mer base, the frozen and dry product specia­list is ideally posi­tio­ned to take advan­tage of the growth oppor­tu­ni­ties in the German food service sector as a whole. We want to expand Elbfrost both orga­ni­cally and through addi­tio­nal acqui­si­ti­ons to become a supra-regio­nal player in a market compri­sing over 100 suppli­ers. The specia­liza­tion in the busi­ness model is to remain. 

Company owners and manage­ment teams remain cautious and cautious about expec­ta­ti­ons for the coming months due to the geopo­li­ti­cal and macroe­co­no­mic situa­tion. Nevert­hel­ess, compa­nies in this region are show­ing a high level of resi­li­ence and adap­ta­bi­lity, which means that we conti­nue to see a considera­ble number of oppor­tu­ni­ties. Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land are stable, strong markets. Espe­ci­ally now, in times of diverse chal­lenges, the sustaina­bi­lity and future viabi­lity of busi­ness models are beco­ming appa­rent. We want to be a strong part­ner for SMEs in such situa­tions — not only as a majo­rity or mino­rity inves­tor with tickets of between EUR 30 and 350 million, but also as an active and long-term compa­n­ion that provi­des stra­te­gic support to compa­nies in growth phases, be it for expan­sion, digi­ta­liza­tion or succes­sion solutions. 

Alexis Milko­vic is Mana­ging Direc­tor of the German subsi­diary of NPM Capi­tal in Munich, which he has been buil­ding up since the turn of the year 2024/2025. In this role, he is respon­si­ble for deal sourcing and port­fo­lio work for medium-sized compa­nies in the DACH region. Before joining NPM, he worked for more than 15 years as a part­ner in the Munich office of private equity firm Equis­tone Part­ners Europe. After gradua­ting with a degree in econo­mics from LMU Munich, he began his career at KPMG in the Tran­sac­tion Services division. 

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