When Daan de Wever and his brother Samuel founded Destiny, neither of them had much understanding or experience of running a telecom company. Nevertheless, they wanted to take on Belgium’s telecom giants. They succeeded: Destiny is now the leading provider of cloud-based communication solutions for the Belgian business market. Step one has been taken: now they want to press ahead and expand internationally, together with Mentha Capital.
Mentha Capital is an independent private equity firm active in the lower end of the mid-market in the Netherlands and Flanders. We invest in established, mid-sized and profitable companies with clear opportunities for growth along multiple avenues, such as organic growth, expansion in new markets or a buy-and-build approach. We have a significant amount of capital under management from a solid base of wealthy individuals and families and institutional investors with a long-term investment horizon. The entrepreneurial team of investment professionals, with solid financial and corporate business experience, likes to team up with management to jointly realize ambitious business plans.
Founded in 2006, the strategy of Mentha Capital is to develop portfolio companies into stronger and larger companies with distinct strategic value. We pursue a generalist investment strategy and invest in a variety of established and traditional sectors with favorable growth and business development dynamics. Our portfolio companies and target companies hold sustainable positions in their value chain. We aim to take controlling stakes.
Investments fluctuate between 5 and 20 million euro equity per transaction in companies with EBITDA ranging from 2.5 to 10 million euro. Our companies have their head offices in the Netherlands or Flanders with branches in all regions of the world. Our deals are typically succession transactions of family businesses, corporate spin-offs or, incidentally, secondary transactions in management buy-out or management buy-in situations.
Mentha Capital aspires to be actively involved with the portfolio companies, acting as a pragmatic and involved partner to support management teams in executing ambitious business plans. We aim to build close partnerships between management and shareholder(s) by encouraging members of the management team to co-invest in the business. The team has gained significant insight and experience in many different industries and has access to an extensive network of industry experts. We endeavor to invest in non-discriminatory and equal opportunity companies and to exclude companies that do not strive to comply with responsible industry standards. We pursue responsible behavior in our portfolio companies, demanding management to develop strategies that incorporate social responsibility objectives.
The Mentha Capital team consists of nine investment professionals. The team members have complementary skills, disciplines and backgrounds, contributing a high level of entrepreneurship and experience in various relevant fields, including operational and financial management, business development, consumer goods, health care, banking and corporate finance. Together, the team is committed to operating in a down-to-earth, accountable, energetic and transparent way.
Our portfolio of investments consists of a range of companies in different life cycles across multiple industries.
Mentha Capital consistently strives to achieve a sustainable impact in its business operations. We invest in, build and expand our portfolio companies while devoting due care and respect for our planet and the people that live on it. That’s why we pledge 7.5% of our company’s annual profit to charity, and commit to an integrated environmental, social and governance (ESG) policy for Mentha Capital and its portfolio companies.
