$50m in dividends, a fundless sponsor

And a deal UPDATE

Author

PrivateEquityGuy
March 30, 2025

  • IRR

  • Moic

  • Net Profit Margin

  • Debt to Equity

  • Operating Margin

  • ROA

  • EBITDA

  • Return

  • P/E Ratio

  • Roe

  • Free Cash Flow

  • ROIC

All these metrics all day every day — on the weekends trying to take a little easier.

Sometimes I do it by chopping trees. For 1.5 hours straight.

A great recipe for a clear mind and a fit body

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That said:

The late 20s early 30s have been the hardest. Having this endless energy, trying to crush it at work.

At the same time finding it extremely hard to balance it with everything else. The whole period is very much a journey to find out who you are.

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Spoke to the business owner whose company paid almost $50M in dividends last year.

I've pitched him many times but he never invest. Says he never invests outside of his speciality.

Some lessons from these conversations:

Silence is a strategy. Or like David Senra from Founders podcast have said: "Bad boys more in silence". They've built a logistics holdco while staying completely out of the spotlight. No media, no interviews, just execution.

"I would like to take a walk around the city"

Full-stack logistics = full control. By owning the entire logistics chain (land, sea, air), they became irreplaceable to global players.

Talent over tactics. Like a law firm, the core value was in the people. They've always take top talent from rivals and turned loyal logisticians into millionaires.

Calm operators win long-term. While others reacted to crises with noise, they quietly made smart, timely decisions -- and are still collecting the dividends.

They've built a generational business without chasing fame and now passing that low-ego money machine to his kids.

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From a conversation with a fundless sponsor:

As for using outside capital to do deals, there are many different ways to do it.. His favorite (with smaller deals):

  1. Investing first with his own money.

  2. And then bring in a small group of other capital partners who understand the mission, understand alignment and co-invest with me.

Sometimes things get so big and so fast and this small world doesn't work and you have to go to bigger sources

His favorite role is still a fundless sponsor mixed with a private network of HNWIs who just want to build business with you.

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Investor, dealmaker, and CEO - a person who has seen it all:

Best investment advice you've ever received?

"Keep it simple stupid and focus on cash. Understand cash. Whether its a big investment, a small investment, an investment in yourself. Just understand the capitalization and its sources."

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How has been the week in the small holding company world?

Traditional business

Deal update: I changed the offer!

There's a heavy equipment rental company deal I've been working on for 4 months. It's owned by two gentlemen, both 50/50. One is eager to sell, the other wants to stay in business for another 4-5 years.

One guy is willing to sell his share right now, he just wants to relax and surf in Southern Europe. The "problem" is that I want to finance the acquisition with real estate (sale-leaseback); but the other seller doesn't want to give up the majority.

The change I made: I spoke with Founder #1 (the surfer), who’s now open to seller financing part of the deal. So, the goal is to have both founders to stay on for another 4–5 years. He’ll now willing to sell this idea to the other founder.

Again, the broker is committed, the seller (the surfer) is committed, and I'm committed to making it happen – find creative ways to acquire 65-70% of the company.

What makes it special is that the CEO and management are in place, and using a sale-leaseback structure, I could finance almost 100% of the acquisition with real estate. This is one of those deals where the owners have built the company for 20+ years, and where they see another 20% ROE per year for another 4-5 years.

Today, the company generates approximately 12 million in sales and 2 million in EBITDA.

Fintech/Consumer loan company

The lawyer said we should be able to close the equity investment next week. Hopefully, that holds—let’s see how it plays out.

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Podcast:

Potential Sponsor Update: I had a meeting with the founder of a US-based holding company that acquires and invests in B2B SaaS companies - he said he would be interested in being the first sponsor of the HoldCo Builders podcast.

To be honest, I've never even thought about having a sponsor, so this makes it even better. Obviously, it would help me hire the very first person on the media side of Private Equity Guy — to make the research even better - I'd like to add a weekly solo episode.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how it goes and if we move forward.

The numbers behind the podcast (I upload one episode per week):

  • Apple podcast: 1,320 followers / 5,000 plays and 450 hrs of listening

  • Youtube: 7,800 followers / 5,200 views and 590 hrs of watch time

  • Spotify: 2,800 followers / 3,500 plays and 950 hrs of listening

This week’s podcast:

What a story – former venture capitalist turned acquisition entrepreneur.

5 acquisitions made (4 in first year)

Previously, Pascal made 140 venture investments, backed 7 unicorns, but then walked away from VC life…

Now, through Noosa Labs, his next goal is a $50m ARR portfolio at a 50% EBITDA margin.

In this hour-long conversation, we'll discover how he structures his deals, what are the trade-offs between bootstrapping & raising capital, and the VC lessons that gave him an edge in buying companies.

I hope you enjoy.

Here are the links to Spotify, Apple podcast and YouTube.

That’s all for today.

Thanks for reading and talk to you again next week.

Take care,

PrivateEquityGuy / Mikk Markus