Think Like an Owner Freddie Bellhouse - Building a Holding Company in the U.K. - Ep.126
My guest on this episode is Freddie Bellhouse. Freddie and his partner Nick Ashford are co-founders of Fordhouse, a UK-based acquirer of small companies. In the eight years since they're founding in 2014, they've done 25 deals and are beginning to consider more fund-like permanent capital structures for future acquisitions.
I was fortunate enough to meet Freddie's partner Nick in New York City, and we hit it off immediately. He'll be a future guest on here pretty soon. Freddie and I talk about lessons learned going deal by deal, building expertise in integration and organization building, and differences between the US and UK small private equity markets.
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Links:
EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme)
Topics:
(3:30) - Can you walk us through some of the deals you’ve accomplished in your career?
(7:24) - What are some nuances between the US and UK in regards to SMB?
(9:55) - Have you met any people in_______
(11:12) - Are there any European companies that have multiples as low as the US?
(12:02) - Why have you decided to raise a fund instead of raising deal by deal?
(15:03) - What’s an example of a company where you needed to build out the executive team function?
(17:53) - How do you evaluate whether a team is ready for growth?
(19:15) - Have you noticed that most of the compounding growth at a company happens at years 4 & 5? Why do people sell right before that?
(22:13) - The scripted nature of acquisitions
(24:19) - What are the differences in transaction costs between the US and the UK?
(26:21) - What kinds of offers have you received for businesses?
(27:45) - How intriguing is Fordhouse as an acquirer?
(30:27) - What is the longer-term focus in your work?
(33:10) - How do you think about keeping managers happy in terms of liquidity or dividends?
(35:33) - What tends to go wrong when interests diverge?
(37:39) - What causes a mediocre performance?
(40:48) - Is there one company you’ve acquired that’s vastly outperformed the others?
(42:35) - Thoughts on integrating companies
(43:45) - What are some of the example PCV’s that you’ve enjoyed studying?
(46:57) - What college class would you teach if it could be about anything?
(48:14) - What’s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on?
(49:20) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?