Investment Strategy | Beech Tree PE

Investment size

We invest between £10m and £40m in any one business. Our funding can be used to support management buy-outs, provide cash out to owner-managers, fund acquisitions and organic growth initiatives.

We want to ensure that the businesses we back have the investment required to accelerate growth on day one, this could also mean providing the funding for an acquisition programme upfront, thus enabling acquisitions to happen faster as well as eliminating the debate about the cost of follow-on funding down the line.

What we look for

We are looking for businesses that have some, if not all, of the following characteristics:

The potential to be a market leading business in a fast growing sector
A disruptive and scalable business model
A consolidator in a fragmented market
An ability to expand internationally

Types of deals

We actively seek investment opportunities in the following areas:

Cash out deals with owner-managers who would like to de-risk personally but still accelerate the growth of their business
Management buy-outs, backing management to buy the businesses they run
Funding acquisitions, providing capital to businesses that would like to pursue a buy-and-build strategy
Expansion capital, providing investment to accelerate organic growth initiatives

Helping create value is at the heart of our Investment strategy

We want to make a difference to the companies we invest in – building value is at the heart of everything we do. We are known in the private equity industry as being one of the most active and supportive investors – using our experience and networks to help teams to deliver their plans. The key areas in which we look to add value include:

Sales growth – from the outset we look to invest in the sales and marketing functions through a ‘results driven’ methodology. Building sales momentum and illustrating strong organic growth on exit is key to maximising value
Automation & efficiency – entrepreneurs run their businesses efficiently. We are focused on helping them to build and create software to automate areas within their businesses – allowing them to scale further without the need for significant growth in overheads
Internationalisation – not every business wants or needs an international strategy. However, where there is an opportunity and it is right for the business to pursue international growth, we help management choose the right markets, identify overseas acquisitions and create the right team to deliver on this strategy
Buy and build – we have significant experience in buy and build strategies. We help teams identify, negotiate, fund and integrate acquisitions – it’s a key part of our business