Merchant Banking
Our investment strategy
We target privately-owned businesses across the European middle-market - the traditional strong-hold of Rothschild & Co.
Our focus is on companies with enterprise values of €50 to €750 million and our target investment size is €25 to €125million per transaction.
Alongside co-investment partners we have the ability to underwrite up to €200 million.
Middle-market focus
Our experience has shown that the middle-market segment provides a deep pool of attractive, growth-oriented companies which are leading players in their specific niche markets, but which are increasingly under-serviced by mainstream banks.
Rothschild & Co's long heritage in this market provides us with proprietary insight and opportunities that represent a powerful competitive advantage.
Investment criteria
We focus on profitable, established companies led by talented management teams that are leaders in their market segments.
Our key investment yardsticks therefore include:
- Entrenched market positions and durable competitive advantages
- A high degree of predictability and visibility of earnings
- Demonstrated track record of cash-flow generation and ability to earn attractive returns on capital across multiple economic cycles
We are passionate about supporting businesses owned by entrepreneurs, families and/or private equity sponsors in achieving their growth and value-creation objectives.
Our experience over time has shown that investing in high-quality, defensible businesses is the best route to generating attractive risk-adjusted returns consistently.
Solutions across the debt capital structure
There are two core principles which govern our investment approach:
- Bespoke and flexible structuring, whereby we tailor each financing solution to address the specific requirements of the shareholders and management teams with whom we work
- A focus on ensuring that the returns we seek are commensurate with the risks we are taking, enabling us to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors
With these principles in mind, we have developed the capability to provide solutions across the debt capital structure, enabling us to provide the optimal financing package for each opportunity that we pursue.
Specifically, we can provide the following instruments:
- Unitranche
- Senior lien
- Mezzanine
- PIK notes
- Preferred equity