Business services is a core sector for Maasdael, with a structural focus and an active deal flow. We advise medium-sized enterprises, often family businesses and owner-managed companies, but also organizations with a private equity shareholder. Our track record spans from the staffing and secondment industry, consultancy, and IT services to the cleaning industry and accounting, where there is currently significant acquisition activity driven by private equity.

In this sector, the value lies in the people, and that makes the preparation decisive. Commercial relationships and knowledge are often held by a handful of people, and a strong dependence on the owner-manager or key personnel depresses valuation. We therefore often work with entrepreneurs well ahead of a process on retaining staff and on building a management team that can operate independently. The quality of turnover also carries significant weight: recurring revenues are valued higher than project-based turnover, although that transition is not possible everywhere. The shifting regulations surrounding self-employment deserve to be addressed early and openly in the information memorandum, because a surprise halfway through the process costs more than an honest story upfront.

This knowledge translates into concrete advantages. We know which strategic and financial parties are active and what they select for, and our network of buyers, investors, and financiers has been built through transactions, not through cold contact. During preparation, we proactively bring forward the themes that buyers find important and integrate them into the equity story. We also discuss a realistic expectation regarding the value of your company, based on current transactions in the sector, even when that is a lower number than hoped for. Reality at the outset is equally important to the entrepreneur and to us.