Platform company
The base business with the organisation and management to integrate acquisitions.
Buy & build
Buy-and-build opportunities in the Netherlands
A buy-and-build strategy needs two things at the same time: capital that can keep pace with acquisitions, and acquisition targets that genuinely strengthen the platform. Capital Search works on both, through targeted search and direct approach.
Building a platform
What makes a company a platform
A platform is the company that can absorb others: management capacity, systems, reporting, purchasing and a market position strong enough that acquisitions add to it rather than distract from it.
Consolidation logic differs per sector. In some markets the gain is purchasing power or coverage, in others it is capacity utilisation, specialist staff or the ability to serve larger clients. The logic determines which add-ons are worth acquiring at all.
Add-on acquisition
A smaller company acquired to extend coverage, capability, capacity or client base.
Acquisition pipeline
A prioritised sequence of realistic targets rather than a single opportunistic deal.
Consolidation logic
The concrete reason combining these companies produces a stronger whole.
Finding capital for acquisitions
Funding a strategy, not a single deal
Buy-and-build changes the capital question. An investor or financier is not only assessing the first acquisition, but whether the platform can repeat the exercise without losing control of its operations or its balance sheet.
That usually means combining sources: equity for the platform and the strategy, transaction financing per acquisition, and sometimes seller involvement in the structure. Which combination is realistic depends on the platform's own performance.
Equity for the platform
Growth capital alongside existing shareholders
Acquisition financing per transaction
Bank and specialist debt
Private credit and alternative lenders
Family offices with a long horizon
Seller financing within the structure
Strategic investors funding consolidation
Identifying relevant add-ons
Targets are found, not listed
Most suitable add-on companies are not for sale. They are owned by entrepreneurs who have not yet considered a transaction, which is precisely why a targeted, direct approach works better than waiting for a process to appear.
We map the market around the platform, assess fit against the consolidation logic, and approach owners individually. Capital Search does not operate a marketplace or a database of available companies.
Define the profile
Region, size, specialism, client type and the capability the platform is missing.
Map the market
Identify the companies that match, including those not currently in any process.
Prioritise
Rank on strategic fit, integration effort and the likelihood of a workable conversation.
Approach owners directly
Discreet, individual contact with the entrepreneur, with a reason to talk.
Investors and strategic buyers
The other side of the same market
Investors, platforms and strategic buyers looking for Dutch add-on opportunities face the mirror image of the problem: the interesting companies are rarely visible, and intermediated processes surface the same names to everyone.
For those parties the mandate is the same work in the opposite direction — defining the acquisition profile precisely, then finding and approaching Dutch owners who fit it.
The Netherlands as a search market
A fragmented market with owner-led companies
Many Dutch sectors consist of established, owner-led companies of modest size, often with a founder approaching a transition. That combination is what makes the Netherlands a workable buy-and-build market.
It also means that the deciding factor is usually the conversation with the owner rather than the financial model. A transaction only happens when continuity, people and the owner's own position have been addressed properly.
How Capital Search works
One method, two directions
Whether the mandate is capital for a platform or the identification of add-ons, the method is the same: understand the situation, define the profile and the rationale, identify and prioritise parties, then approach them directly.
Every step narrows the field and improves the quality of the argument used at first contact.
Relevant cases
Anonymous mandates
Anonymous mandates involving consolidation, incoming management and capital for expansion.
02RETAIL
RETAIL
Separation of interests in a supermarket company
OWNERSHIP SEPARATIONCONTINUITY
The shareholders of a supermarket company needed to separate their interests. Ownership, valuation, stakeholder interests and continuity shaped the search for a workable transaction structure.
10TAX SERVICES
TAX SERVICES
Scale-up capital and incoming MBI candidates
SCALE-UP CAPITALMBI
Tax services company with a growth mandate combining a search for scale-up capital with suitable incoming MBI candidates.
06INTERNATIONAL E-COMMERCE · COSMETICS
INTERNATIONAL E-COMMERCE · COSMETICS
Growth capital for international expansion
GROWTH CAPITALINTERNATIONAL
International e-commerce company in cosmetics seeking growth capital to support further international expansion and scale its operations.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is a buy-and-build strategy?
Buy-and-build is growth through a series of acquisitions around a platform company. Instead of one large transaction, the platform acquires smaller companies that add coverage, capability, capacity or clients, and integrates them into a stronger whole.
Can Capital Search identify add-on acquisition targets?
Yes. We define the acquisition profile with the platform or investor, map the companies that fit it, prioritise them and approach owners directly — including companies that are not currently for sale.
How is a buy-and-build strategy financed?
Usually through a combination: equity in the platform, transaction financing per acquisition, and sometimes seller involvement in the purchase price. What is achievable depends on the platform's performance, the security available and the credibility of the pipeline.
Does a platform need to be large?
Not necessarily. What matters more than size is whether the organisation can absorb acquisitions: management capacity, systems, reporting discipline and a market position that acquisitions reinforce.
Do you work for investors as well as entrepreneurs?
Yes. Mandates come from Dutch entrepreneurs pursuing a buy-and-build strategy and from investors, platforms and strategic buyers looking for relevant Dutch add-on opportunities.
Related searches
M&A financing search
Financing parties for acquisitions, buy-outs and buy-and-build transactions.
Company buyer search
Targeted identification of buyers for a Dutch company.
Growth capital Netherlands
Equity for Dutch companies entering their next stage.
Discuss a buy-and-build mandate
An initial conversation starts with the platform, the consolidation logic and the capital the strategy requires.
Capital Search is part of De Nieuwe Aandeelhouder. You can contact us directly through De Nieuwe Aandeelhouder.