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The family office launched Legacy Search Partners nearly two years ago. How do you position your search fund activity within the broader ecosystem, and how do you integrate it with your core business as a family-owned investment company focused on mid-market leaders in Germany?
We’ve been investing in ETA for several years. What has changed is focus. With Legacy Search Partners, we are now bringing everything under one coherent strategy.
Legacy Search Partners has effectively existed alongside our HoldCo activities for quite some time. For us, the two are inseparable. We combine the long-term mindset of a family office with our hands-on operating experience. We know how this journey feels because we’ve been through it ourselves. Finding a deal, getting it done, and then actually running the business is a very different game.
Our team reflects that reality. We bring together an entrepreneur, a consultant, and a private equity professional. That mix allows us to support the full lifecycle, from search to operation. In addition, having the former German Finance Minister as one of our advisors gives us access to networks and doors that are typically closed.
At our core, we see ourselves as sparring partners. Not just when things are going well, but especially when they are not. The real inflection point in ETA is the transition from hunter to operator. That is where we spend most of our time and where we believe we can add the most value.
You emphasize a hands-on approach with searchers. Can you share concrete examples of how you support entrepreneurs during the sourcing, acquisition, and post-acquisition phases?
We try to avoid the passive investor trap. Our role is not to show up once a quarter and ask for a KPI deck. It is to be genuinely useful when it matters.
In the search phase, that can mean helping a searcher sharpen their outreach, pressure-test their process, or even think through their tech stack early on so they start with the right infrastructure from day one.
In the acquisition phase, our support becomes more direct. In our most recent search transactions, we provided the winning LOI template, introduced the right M&A lawyer and financing bank, and supported the searcher in negotiating down both financing and RCF costs, all while speaking with the searcher several times a week throughout the entire process.
After closing, the work changes again. We take board seats where we can add real value, but we are equally available for the small and often unseen moments that never make it into formal board meetings. A hiring decision. A difficult conversation with an employee. A moment of doubt after a tough week. Our searchers call us on weekends not because they have to, but because they know they will get a direct and honest answer.
In a relatively short time, you have supported numerous searchers across several European countries and have already built a portfolio of around a dozen companies. Could you share more details about your portfolio, and what are your objectives going forward?
We have been active across several European countries and have built a portfolio of around a dozen companies. That said, we do not think about the platform as a numbers game. We care far more about the quality of the searcher-company fit and, ultimately, the long-term outcomes those partnerships produce.
The common thread across the portfolio is straightforward. We back ambitious operators acquiring understandable businesses with durable characteristics and room for improvement. Going forward, our objective is to remain selective, conviction-led, and deeply supportive. That is also why we have invested ahead of the curve in our own team. As the portfolio grows, our ability to provide real hands-on support has to grow even faster.
Europe has an exceptional base of entrepreneurial talent and some of the best small and medium-sized businesses in the world. Bringing those two together is what excites us. That is where we see real impact, both for the entrepreneurs we back and for Europe’s long-term structural growth.
You highlight the importance of “searcher-company fit.” What are the key qualitative factors you assess beyond financials and industry alignment?
For us, it comes down to a tripod of traits.
First, empathy. Can the searcher sit down with a 65-year-old founder, listen properly, and understand the emotional as well as economic weight of what is being handed over?
Second, grit. Search is a long process with a lot of rejection, uncertainty, and false starts. We look for people who do not just tolerate that, but can stay sharp and constructive through it.
Third, operational humility. The best searchers respect what has been built over decades, but still have the courage and judgment to make changes where needed. That balance matters a great deal.
A good business is not enough. The question is whether this is the right person to lead this business through its next chapter.
Your team combines operational, consulting, and investment backgrounds. How does this multidisciplinary expertise translate into value creation post-acquisition?
Every business has different bottlenecks, so value creation is never one-size-fits-all. What helps is having a team that can look at the same problem from different angles.
Sometimes the key issue is financial structure, pricing, or capital allocation. Sometimes it is sales execution, organizational design, or a messy operational pivot. Because our team spans operating, consulting, and investment backgrounds, we can usually bring a more grounded and balanced perspective to those situations.
Just as importantly, we know when to bring in additional expertise. Our advisory board is not window dressing. It is a real extension of the platform.
Prior to Legacy, Chris scaled DrSmile to over €200M in revenue, expanded into 10 countries, and ultimately exited to the publicly listed Straumann Group. To what extent can this experience be applied to more traditional “boring” businesses? Are search funds sometimes too conservative in focusing on blue-collar opportunities, and how do you encourage searchers to adopt a more growth-oriented, entrepreneurial mindset?
Talent matters. Culture matters. Execution matters. Capital allocation matters.
Chris bootstrapped DrSmile and experienced firsthand the cash flow and operational realities of an SME. Meeting payroll, overcoming regulatory hurdles, and wearing multiple hats at the same time. A humbling lesson in what it truly takes to build a company.
As DrSmile evolved, the business shifted toward a franchise and M&A-driven model, deploying approximately €150 million into multiple acquisitions while expanding into more than 10 countries and building local teams in each market.
Not every lesson from that journey applies directly to a traditional SME. But many do. The biggest takeaway: Talent compounds. Building a high-performing culture with aligned and motivated people, pointed in the right direction, creates disproportionate long-term value.
We apply that same mindset across our portfolio. The first 6 to 12 months after an acquisition are usually not about heroic change. They are about not breaking what already works, understanding the organization clearly, and then making deliberate decisions about where to strengthen the team, where to invest, and where different leadership may be needed for the next stage.
The Mittelstand segment has historically been cautious toward search funds. However, in the past 3 to 4 years, the number of traditional searchers in Germany has increased significantly, yet we still see only 4 to 5 deals per year. What needs to happen for this number to potentially triple?
The constraint is not opportunity. Germany has more than enough succession situations. The constraint is trust.
Germany is the most insured country in the world and incredibly slow to adopt new ideas. Many Mittelstand owners continue to see search funds as new and risky. For deal volume to increase meaningfully, that perception must change.
More education among brokers, banks, academics, and founders will help. So will more visible success stories. In markets like Germany, credibility compounds slowly, then all at once.
The German SF investor ecosystem is arguably one of the strongest in Europe today, second perhaps only to Spain. Is there room for the growing number of institutional investors entering the SF ecosystem? How do you see the future of the sector in Germany and in nearby markets such as Italy, Poland, or even Northeastern Europe?
There is room for more institutional capital, but only if it comes with the right behavior. Search funds do not just need more money. They need judgment, patience, and investors who are willing to engage when it matters.
If institutional capital helps professionalize the ecosystem without diluting that ethos, it is a positive. If it turns the model into just another asset class managed at arm’s length, it will do damage.
As for geography, Germany will remain one of the most important markets in Europe because the underlying ingredients are so strong. Italy is highly attractive because of its fragmented industrial base and deep succession pipeline. Poland and parts of Northeastern Europe are particularly interesting because they combine generational transition with structural growth.
Across all of these markets, the long-term opportunity is clear. But the sector will still be built one successful searcher, one successful transition, and one good company at a time.
