Verhoeven Family of Companies: growth through a sound acquisition strategy

More and more entrepreneurs are considering (partially) selling their company. That is the way to grow in a controlled way and to remain healthy in the long term. It means profiting from knowledge, skills and capital ‘from outside the company’. An appealing example of such a journey is Verhoeven Family of Companies, a VADO company since 1996.

Verhoeven shows how a company can grow healthily step by step. From an all-round machine builder to a global provider of total solutions in various specialised market segments. With its solid buy-and-build strategy, Verhoeven has become a global top player in its markets.

The ‘family spirit’ of VADO
According to Hans Stoop, CEO of Verhoeven, it is very important that an in-coming investor has an eye for the ‘family spirit’ within the company: “It is important to have a long-term investor who gives ample room for entrepreneurship within its companies and who helps them to grow further in a healthy way. We are given all the space we need to work independently, we spar with each other and discuss how we can continue expanding our specialisms. Also by acquiring new companies, for example. VADO supports us in an excellent way.”

During the takeover of a company, mutual trust is paramount
VADO likes to talk to entrepreneurs who are considering selling their company. We take the time to get to know each other and to find out to what extent we fit together. Several scenarios can be discussed as we carefully look at how the new company fits best within the VADO portfolio.

Some acquisition candidates are perfectly suited to grow healthily as stand-alone businesses, successful examples are Verhoeven and Bato. For other companies it may be more suitable to form a stronger entity in a partnership with one or more of our VADO companies, such as Anvil Industries and Lacom.

Read more about this in our article ‘Selling a business; how an investor can add value to your business’.