VETERNITY, a French business company (former La Compagnie des Vétérinaires, a company held by several hundred veterinarians) who specialise in the cremation of domestic pets and horses, contacted ACTIVE M&A Experts, our German Partner, in 2019 with the request to help support the acquisition of a player in the German market. Initially, there was no mandate, they just wanted to buy services; ACTIVE M&A Experts agreed. This was by no means an easy task as this is a very niche market, dominated by institutional competitors, the rest of the market being fragmented by family-owned businesses. Through this process, ACTIVE by closely working together with VETERNITY, created a relationship based on trust and a purchase mandate was signed.
ACTIVE M&A Experts made their first acquisition on their behalf in 2019.
This in turn led to a Broad assignment for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and also a possibility of broadening the search to Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia followed by Belgium and The Netherlands.
Veternity asked ACTIVE M&A Experts for an introduction to our American partner FOCUS Investment Banking, which led to a major acquisition by FOCUS Investment Banking for Veternity.
They acquired 4 crematoria in the US (FOCUS Investment Banking) despite Covid 19 which drastically changed their working methods and forced FOCUS Investment Banking to think outside the box. These deals were closed without any physical contact or meetings in person. All the meetings were on digital platforms as was the subsequent due diligence and negotiations.
From this point our Polish partners, JP Weber, also became involved widening the search for acquisitions in Poland then the Czech Republic and Slovakia, this produced a list of 24 targets. A deal in Poland was completed in 2020.
Following on from this success we contacted our partner MBA Capital, in France where a deal was closed a couple of months ago. MBA Capital in turn contacted Fingeste, our Portuguese partner who In June 2019 they started screening and approached 6 targets. The deal closed in March 2021 with the market leader.
M&A Worldwide became their instrument for growth, they learnt that with open communication between members and a shared vision they could grow at a steady pace. Members worked together to formulate mandates and share relevant information to help standardize and maintain the high quality and standard of work provided by each M&A Worldwide member involved.
This is an outstanding example of Cooperation between Members and what makes our network a success. It also exemplifies how well Members who work together can provide a seamless service cross borders for their clients making MAWW a truly global operation.
Now as we look to the future Veternity have just announced a merger with their biggest competitor which will, in turn, open new doors. This merger will provide many more resources to further push their expansion and increase their capacity for investment. There is still a mandate in place so let’s look to the next phase and even more work together.