A recent wave of International SF exits highlights the success of this asset class

As a reminder, Search Funds News was launched at the beginning of 2024, and since then, we’ve been covering all the latest developments over the past 18 months. However, compiling data on past exits required us to dig through 20 years of history, and we are aware that we may have missed a few deals. As always, these figures are preliminary, and we expect to include additional transactions in the coming months as confidentiality constraints are lifted.

This article was born out of demand from many investors subscribed to SFNews, who wanted to illustrate that our asset class, particularly in Europe and Latin America (the two regions with the highest number of international exits outside the U.S.), is experiencing strong growth. The trend is clear: we are moving toward the kind of remarkable returns seen in North America over the past 40 years, as reflected in Stanford GSB’s 2024 Search Fund Study (IRR of 35.1%, ROI of 4.5x).

We’d like to thank all the professionals who helped us gather the data for this article. This is not an exhaustive study, nor do we aim to compete with or correct the work done by the International Search Fund Center at IESE Business School, which publishes an excellent biennial report with both quantitative and qualitative data. Our goal remains to dive into the micro-level details and provide timely updates on emerging trends.

And the first piece of good news: there is a clear and growing trend of increasingly positive outcomes in international SF exits.

1/ Previous data: Analyzing the past 20 years (2004-2023).  

After reviewing the last six Search Fund studies published by IESE Business School (from 2014 to 2024), we can summarize the key findings as follows:

• 21 exits in total: 15 with a positive return and 6 with a negative return
  • 15 positive: 7 in Mexico, 3 in the UK, 2 in Spain, 1 in Brazil and 1 in Chile and 1 in Italy
  • 6 negative in Europe and Brazil (no specific locations provided for Europe)

• Timing of the exits:
  • Before 2010, 2 negative and 4 positive: these include Fresh & Wild (2004) and RSL Steeper (2005) in the UK, Tenda (2007) in Brazil, exited in less than one year with an IPO, and St Andrews SA in Chile (2008).
  • Between 2010 and 2015: 3 positive: 1 in the UK (unidentified), Enkontrol (2013) and Bomi México (Medistik) (2015)
  • Between 2016 and 2017: 1 negative in Europe and 2 positive in Mexico (one of them is Universidad Tres Culturas in 2017).
  • Between 2018 and 2019: 1 negative
  • Between 2020 and 2023: 2 negative and 6 positive; 2 in Spain (Repli (2020) and Lodisna (2023), 1 in Italy (Etichettificio LGL (Tikedo) (2023), and 3 in Mexico (we have identified 4: Sekura (2020), Grupo Torre Médica (2021), Iresa (Qualianz) (2023) and AlphaCredit (2023).

• Performance: Isolating the returns for search funds that are still operating a business, the aggregate ROI was 2.1x, and the IRR was 19.6%. For terminal search funds (i.e., those for which the searcher acquired and then sold or exited the business), ROI was 1.9x invested capital (ROI), while IRR was 17.3%.

We have also identified 3–4 other exits during this period (in Chile, Japan, and Germany).

Below is a list of the exits we have identified until 2023 (to be complemented in the future):

2/ A dozen exits in the past 18 months   

In the last 18 months, we have already identified 13 exits (including 2 partial ones), reflecting a surge in activity. It took 20 years from the first Search Fund exit in 2004 to reach approximately 20–25 exits. Now, in just 18 months, we have already seen about half that number.

Our initial observations are:

• MOIC and IRR in Europe and Latin America have improved significantly over the past 18 months, helping to close the gap with North America.
• Several deals have achieved multiples above 5x, with one exit in Spain delivering the highest ROI to date (over 10x), demonstrating that similar outcomes to those in North America are achievable, and that the asset class is maturing rapidly.
• A few deals have achieved IRRs above 50%, thanks to very short holding periods: 4 exits occurred in less than 2–3 years.
• More than two-thirds of the exits provided liquidity to investors in under 5 years, while only 4 exits happened after operating the company for 6–7 years.
• Spain has been the most active country in terms of exits, with 5 deals completed over the past 18 months, and at least 2-3 more expected this year.
• New countries have recorded their first full or partial exits, including France, Poland, the Dominican Republic, and Israel.
• Brazil has reversed its previously negative track record with 3 positive exits in 2025, two of which delivered very strong returns.
• Overall, there is a clear trend toward more positive outcomes.

Below is a list of the exits we have identified since 2024 (to be updated over time):

One explanation for these shorter holding periods could be that the first generations of local investors in Europe and Latin America needed liquidity and success stories in order to raise a second investment vehicle. In addition, some private investors and family offices may have preferred “flipping” companies to quickly redeploy returns into new opportunities, especially given how fast the market is growing.

The good news is that some pioneering European investors have already managed to return 2x their first fund with just 4–5 exits, and they continue to hold high expectations for their current portfolios.

Our prediction is that by the end of 2025, the number of exits over the past two years will match, or even exceed, the total number of international exits recorded over the previous two decades, demonstrating the growing maturity of the SF landscape.

It’s still too early to draw definitive conclusions about average MOIC and IRR, as the sample size (around 35 international exits) remains relatively small compared to North America’s 160+ exits (122 positive vs. 40 negative). However, if recent results continue, there is strong potential to close the performance gap with North America, and to demonstrate that, globally, the SF asset class is one of the highest-performing alternative investments, outperforming both VC and PE.