Our Industrials Team is focused on partnering with growth businesses in particular in the German market, which is characterized by a large number of highly successful, family-owned businesses (the Mittelstand).  We have earned a reputation as a preferred partner for many of these Mittelstand companies as a result of supporting the management of a number of these hidden champions to scale into international businesses.

The German industrial market benefits from proven expertise and high levels of international demand for German precision-engineering, smart electronics, automotive, chemical and industrial automation.  The Industrials Team, based in Munich, is located in the heart of an economic zone containing many high-quality, cutting-edge, technology-led industrial players many of which have strong national or international positions in specific niche markets, with the opportunity to scale further.

Our Thematic research within this sector has focused over many years on the business model characteristics that define the strongest industrial production and distribution businesses and the potential opportunities and challenges that will impact these businesses as they scale.    As a result, we focus on investing in the following industrial sub-sectors: specialized engineering or distribution, industrial electronics (automation and electronic components), automotive suppliers and specialist consumer product design and manufacture.  Within these Thematic sub-sectors, we have made a number of investments in recent years.   A good example of growing a hidden champion is SLV.