NPM Capital is an investment company building the businesses of the future. With a focus on medium to large sized firms in the Benelux, the Group provides growth capital and takes both majority and minority stakes in portfolio companies. Working to flexible investment horizons, NPM pursues long term value creation by actively supporting the management teams of portfolio companies – currently numbering 20 by the end of 2022.
Investments are shaped by four themes: 1) Everything is Digital, 2) Feeding the World, 3) Sustainable Future, and 4) Healthy Life and Learning. In addition to in-house studies and expert support, NPM also draws on the insights of expert advisory boards to better understand markets relevant to these themes.
2022 was a year of increasing economic uncertainty and rising interest rates triggered by the Russia Ukraine conflict, energy and commodity price increases, and high inflation. In the face of this perfect storm, markets cooled and multiples declining slightly. Even so, the market retained enough liquidity to support high and stable valuations, although EBITDA growth is increasingly becoming the key value driver.
To support this growth, NPM has introduced individual Value Creation Plans to several portfolio companies. The main objectives of these plans have been to minimise the impact of supply chains shortages, recruit talent in an overheated labour market, and manage rising inflation.
During the year, NPM sold three portfolio companies to new investors. Hendrix Genetics, a worldwide active multi species animal breeder, was divested in March; The IT Channel Company, a distributor of ERP software, in July; and Groendus, a leading Dutch sustainable energy partner for corporations, in November.
The Group also made a number of significant investments in new portfolio companies. These included the acquisitions of De Variabele and Caspar the Haan, two companies active in the Dutch real estate maintenance sector. Having merged under the name Omdus, the new entity will act as a platform for future add-on acquisitions. In October NPM also acquired a majority stake in Otolift, a leading European manufacturers of stair lifts. And late December, NPM signed the acquisition of HQ Pack, a packaging company active in the semiconductor industry. The closing is expected in the first half of 2023.
In addition to these transactions, NPM reinvested in several of its participations. The company supported Infinitas in acquiring the Portuguese firm LeYa, and Kubo in the acquisition of Dutch outfit Peter Dekker Installaties. Growth capital was also provided to several portfolio companies, including Ultimaker and Ohpen.
NPM showed a strong bottom line performance, mainly due to the different successful exists and to a lesser extent the received dividends from current participations.
New investments