Since October 2015, Oscar Driessen at independent customs agent Customs Support has transferred his operational responsibilities as director to Maarten Bedaf. Maarten continues, together with Oscar and Mentha Capital, the strategy to substantially grow in the European customs market.
Maarten knows the language of the logistical parties and has a wealth of supply chain expertise through his experience with four of the top logistics service providers: DSV, CEVA, DHL and Kuehne-Nagel. “Within the logistics, customs activities are very specialized and regulatory changes are not always carried out properly,” according to Maarten. “Our employees and robust processes and IT systems are very distinctive, resulting in customers outsourcing their customs activities to Customs Support in full confidence”.
Mentha Capital is an independent private equity firm active in the lower end of the mid-market in the Netherlands and Flanders. We invest in established, mid-sized and profitable companies with clear opportunities for growth along multiple avenues, such as organic growth, expansion in new markets or a buy-and-build approach. We have a significant amount of capital under management from a solid base of wealthy individuals and families and institutional investors with a long-term investment horizon. The entrepreneurial team of investment professionals, with solid financial and corporate business experience, likes to team up with management to jointly realize ambitious business plans.
Founded in 2006, the strategy of Mentha Capital is to develop portfolio companies into stronger and larger companies with distinct strategic value. We pursue a generalist investment strategy and invest in a variety of established and traditional sectors with favorable growth and business development dynamics. Our portfolio companies and target companies hold sustainable positions in their value chain. We aim to take controlling stakes.
Investments fluctuate between 5 and 20 million euro equity per transaction in companies with EBITDA ranging from 2.5 to 10 million euro. Our companies have their head offices in the Netherlands or Flanders with branches in all regions of the world. Our deals are typically succession transactions of family businesses, corporate spin-offs or, incidentally, secondary transactions in management buy-out or management buy-in situations.
Mentha Capital aspires to be actively involved with the portfolio companies, acting as a pragmatic and involved partner to support management teams in executing ambitious business plans. We aim to build close partnerships between management and shareholder(s) by encouraging members of the management team to co-invest in the business. The team has gained significant insight and experience in many different industries and has access to an extensive network of industry experts. We endeavor to invest in non-discriminatory and equal opportunity companies and to exclude companies that do not strive to comply with responsible industry standards. We pursue responsible behavior in our portfolio companies, demanding management to develop strategies that incorporate social responsibility objectives.
We support:
The Mentha Capital team consists of nine investment professionals. The team members have complementary skills, disciplines and backgrounds, contributing a high level of entrepreneurship and experience in various relevant fields, including operational and financial management, business development, consumer goods, health care, banking and corporate finance. Together, the team is committed to operating in a down-to-earth, accountable, energetic and transparent way.
Our portfolio of investments consists of a range of companies in different life cycles across multiple industries.
Mentha Capital draws inspiration from the conviction that ‘We didn’t inherit the Earth from our parents, but we borrow it from our children.’
As an investment company, it is our ambition to build and expand portfolio companies in a sustainable way, meaning that we include the environment, social effects and responsible governance (ESG) in our investment decisions, growth plans and processes. Mentha Capital believes that an integrated ESG approach contributes to improved portfolio performance, appropriate mitigation of risks and stakeholder satisfaction.
In association with the Dutch foundation Trees for All (www.treesforall.nl) we compensate for our CO2 footprint in sustainable forest projects to guarantee our climate-neutrality in 2017.
