Evoco

Evoco is a private equity firm headquartered in continental Europe and founded in 2012, with the stated purpose of providing its investors an attractive risk/return profile. The firm focuses on the Western European lower-mid market, acquiring companies that are undergoing a step-change phase, with an average equity ticket of EUR 5-25m per company and a preference for controlling stakes. Its distinguishing transaction format is the portfolio acquisition: buying three or more companies from a single vendor in one transaction, with single-company deals executed selectively, for example as add-ons to existing holdings. Counterparties include private equity firms, corporates undertaking carve-outs, investment holdings and family offices seeking liquidity solutions.

Evoco invests across multiple sectors, notably industrial/technology, sustainable consumer and scalable services, targeting resilient businesses in complementary industries with conservative leverage. Portfolio sectors listed by the firm include MedTech, IT & software, agriculture, social commerce, sustainable consumer, industrials, consumer goods & retail, manufacturing and healthcare services. Named investments include rebuy, a European refurbisher and e-commerce seller of used consumer electronics and media; Cepasco, a French/Belgian spice and food-compound manufacturer with over 140 years of history; Frank Gruppe, a European manufacturer of wear parts and components for agricultural machinery; and A.M.I., an Austrian developer and manufacturer of minimally invasive surgical products.

After acquisition, Evoco describes itself as an active owner working alongside management teams and entrepreneurs, applying a standard operating toolkit, assembling management teams and professional boards, defining governance structures, and pursuing add-on acquisitions to expand geographic reach and product offering with post-merger integration support.

Business model

Evoco raises closed-end private equity funds from institutional and other European investors and deploys that capital to acquire controlling stakes in lower-mid-market Western European companies, frequently through multi-company portfolio transactions. Returns are generated by operationally improving and consolidating the acquired businesses through governance changes, value-creation programmes and add-on acquisitions, and then exiting to other buyers, as with the 2021 sale of Plumettaz to a Swiss mid-market private equity manager.

Traction

More than EUR 300m committed across three funds since 2012 and more than 25 investments made. The Plumettaz case study cites an exit in 2021 delivering a significant multiple on invested capital.