Blue Cap has announced a higher transaction dynamic for 2024. What exactly are you planning?

Henning von Kottwitz: The focus is clearly on achieving sustainable value growth using our well-known "Buy, Transform, Sell" business model. We want to increase the net asset value to € 60 per share by the end of 2026. This will require significant improvements through the transformation of our existing portfolio, value realisation through disposals and the strengthening of our portfolio through targeted acquisitions. We now want to really step on the gas when it comes to transactions! We are aiming to sell one to two companies and acquire at least one company this financial year.

You have also adjusted the investment criteria for this, what will Blue Cap be focussing on in the future?

Henning Eschweiler: In recent years, the investment focus has been on companies with healthy business models and adjusted EBITDA margins of 7-10%, where the prospects for value enhancement lay primarily in topline growth and deleveraging. Since I joined the company, we have been pursuing a very active investment approach again. This has made us measurably successful in the existing portfolio. In 2023, we naturally reacted primarily to exogenous influences that were not part of the transaction rationale of the companies concerned - but regardless of this, we have proven as an investor that we can turnaround and transform. This is precisely the core of our investment strategy going forward: increasing earnings through active turnaround management. We are looking at targets with sales of between EUR 20 and 200 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 0-5%. The most important thing, however, is that we can identify a healthy core that justifies the relevance of the target company in the long term. With our restructuring expertise, we uncover this healthy core, which then forms the foundation of an adjusted, sustainable business model.

What can readers imagine under special situations?

Henning von Kottwitz: We particularly look at companies that are at a turning point in their corporate history. This can include upheaval situations with extensive restructuring requirements or unresolved succession situations and group spin-offs. The investment focus will provide additional attractive options for acquisitions in the coming years - also due to the economic situation in Germany. The investment decision centres on clear operational improvement potential and prospects for value growth based on a sustainably stable business model. We remain committed to the B2B sector in the area of industrial goods and services, although we are not restricted to specific industries.

What about exits, when is a portfolio company ready for such a step?

Henning Eschweiler: We look at our portfolio in three dimensions. Firstly, we must be able to demonstrate that we have achieved a measurably successful turnaround. Secondly, we concentrate on the 'exit readiness' of the company from the day of closing. This refers to all aspects that do not directly increase earnings but can have a significant influence on our subsequent transaction success: This includes a clear and attractive equity story that already takes into account potential that will only be realised by the next owner, but also 'content readiness', i.e. absolute clarity in the commercial management systems, as well as in the LKSG and ESG documentation - in these disciplines, by the way, our portfolio benefits from Blue Cap AG's stock market listing and the associated demand for data quality. Thirdly, we naturally look at the dynamics of the transaction market. Here, M&A works like any other trading centre: we achieve the best return when there is competition for our assets. Because we can only influence this to a limited extent, we work quickly, focused and consistently on the first two pillars, as speed is the best way to centre the timing ri