European Investment Fund Backs WAD Capital's €67.5M Fund on Path to €130M
Featured this week in L'Echo, De Tijd, and on L'Echo's Le Brief podcast.
In under a year, WAD Capital has completed eight SME acquisitions across Belgium and the Netherlands, closed its first fund at €67.5M with the European Investment Fund as a €25M cornerstone investor, and set a €130M final target with a portfolio goal of 25 companies by end-2027. The milestones drew coverage this week in L'Echo, De Tijd, and on Le Brief podcast alongside a longer-horizon ambition: building a European platform for 1,000 CEOs-in-Residence.
Left to right: Steven Coppens, Robert de Groot (Vice-President, EIB), Alain Brossé, Christopher Tournis Gamble — WAD Capital Managing Partners.
An Industrialised Search Fund Model
WAD Capital operates the only institutional search fund platform in Europe. Every acquisition is led by a pre-selected CEO-in-Residence who takes operational leadership from day one, backed by a structured board of five experts and a proprietary data engine that screens tens of thousands of European SMEs annually to build realistic acquisition shortlists.
"The strength of our model is that every acquisition is led by a pre-selected CEO-in-Residence," says Christopher Tournis Gamble, Managing Partner at WAD Capital. "They are involved from the first market analysis and take operational leadership from day one. Thanks to our data-driven approach, we screen tens of thousands of companies each year to build a realistic shortlist. No CEO is left to figure it out alone."
European Recognition and a €130M Target
The €67.5M first close brought together family offices, private investors, Wallonie Entreprendre, already an investor in two prior WAD rounds, and the European Investment Fund, which committed €25M as cornerstone investor. Letters of intent have been signed by several additional investors toward the €130M final target.
"Eight acquisitions in less than a year and a substantial investment from the European Investment Fund show that our model is working and that Europe recognises the importance of what we do," says Steven Coppens, Managing Partner. "Hundreds of thousands of European SMEs are looking for a successor and can't find one. With this capital, we can connect experienced CEOs with these companies faster and keep more jobs and more businesses in European hands."
Milestones at a Glance
Eight acquisitions completed in nine months; five additional transactions in progress
First close: €67.5M — Final target: €130M
European Investment Fund: €25M cornerstone commitment
Portfolio target: 25 companies by end-2027
Target profile: €1M–€5M EBITDA companies in Benelux, northern France, and western Germany
Average transaction size: €9M
Sector focus: health services, energy and climate transition, business services
Ownership structure: WAD Capital acquires an 80% majority stake; the incoming CEO invests the remaining 20%
First Cross-Border Acquisition and a Broader Portfolio Footprint
Recent months have expanded WAD Capital's portfolio beyond southern Belgium, including the fund's first acquisition outside the country.
Netherlands — first cross-border acquisition:
HBI Tyres & Wheels: WAD Capital's first step outside Belgium. CEO: Michaël Vandelaer
Flanders:
Kantoor Lardenoit (Temse): insurance brokerage. CEO: Mathieu Loquet
E-Demonstrations (Antwerp): event infrastructure. CEO: Nina Bos
Ausloos(Aarschot): packaging. CEO: Thomas Muyldermans
Wallonia:
Mignone(Manage): electrical construction and installation. CEO: Guy-Louis de le Vigne
Alsec (Nivelles): security. CEO: Steven Bourgeois
Euro-M(Ghlin): flexible food packaging. CEO: Samy Lasseel
Jordan (Farciennes): HVAC. CEO: Frédéric Schilling
The CIR Filter: Entrepreneurs Only
WAD Capital's most recent CEO-in-Residence recruitment cycle drew 2,200 applications from Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Ten new CEOs have joined; six more are scheduled to onboard in November.
Speaking on Le Brief, Christopher Tournis Gamble described the filter WAD Capital applies:
"We are absolutely looking for an entrepreneur. We are not looking for someone who needs a job. We are looking for someone who wants to build, who wants to take over a company, who wants to create and protect employment. These are projects aimed at preserving jobs in Belgium and wherever the companies are based."
"It's clear that our track record makes recruitment easier," adds Alain Brossé, Managing Partner. "Especially because we're not creating yet another SME-focused private equity fund. We are industrialising the search fund model, a model that has generated an average IRR of 35% over the past thirty years, to build one of Europe's largest institutional platforms dedicated to entrepreneurship through acquisition."
Why Sellers Choose WAD Capital
WAD Capital's model is designed around continuity, for the company, the workforce, and the region. Tournis Gamble shared a recent example on Le Brief:
"We recently won a bid for a company against a buyer from a distant country. That buyer could not guarantee that the jobs would remain in Belgium. The seller preferred to sell to our entrepreneurs rather than see the company potentially disappear."
That preference, sellers choosing local, operator-led continuity over the highest bid from further away, reflects a pattern WAD Capital sees consistently across the Benelux SME market.
Long-Term Ambition: 1,000 CEOs-in-Residence
Beyond the €130M fund and the 25-company portfolio target, WAD Capital has articulated a longer-horizon goal.
“Our personal end goal is to support 1,000 CEOs-in-Residence." - Christopher Tournis Gamble, Managing Partner.
That ambition frames WAD Capital not as a single fund but as a durable European platform for entrepreneurship through acquisition, one built to scale alongside the succession need across the continent's 24 million SMEs.
