Introduction
A UK industrial holding company being established to buy owner-managed businesses at succession and keep them. Five things worth knowing before anything else.
- What we buy — Majority ownership, typically 75–85%, of UK owner-managed businesses with £1–4m of operating profit, at succession. Management retains a stake. No exit clock, no forced sale, no centralisation.
- What it looks like — Number one or two in a narrow niche; a product or service that is critical to the customer but a small share of their cost; customers who come back; operating margins of 15% or more that have held through a cycle; a business that can run without its founder.
- Structure — A UK holding company that owns its subsidiaries permanently. Any borrowing is arranged by the holding company, kept modest and serviced from the cash the group generates.
- How we work — Each company keeps its name, management, premises and way of working. You set the plan. Where it helps, we bring a second pair of eyes on pricing, on the products and customers that earn the most, and on where to invest.
- Patient by design — We hold for good, so we can take our time, say no more often than yes, and buy only what we would be glad to own for decades.
You built something that works. We would like to keep it working, with your name still on the door.
Charter is being built to buy owner-managed British businesses when the owner is thinking about what comes next — stepping back over time, or staying on with a long-term partner behind the business — and then to keep them. Not for three years, not for five. There is no fund with a closing date behind us, so there is no clock on you, your people or your customers.
Most of the buyers you will meet at this size want to change your company. Private equity has a plan for it and a date to sell it on. A trade buyer will fold it into something larger; the name usually goes within a year. We intend to do neither. You, or the managing director you have chosen, keep running the business. The accounts stay where they are, the vans stay the same colour. Charter is a holding company. It will stay one.
The way we buy is simple to describe. We take a majority of the company — typically three-quarters or a little more — and the balance stays with you or with the person you are handing over to, so that the people running the business continue to own part of it. The terms of that arrangement are agreed before completion, not argued about afterwards.
We will not always be the highest number. If someone offers you more, ask them how much of it is cash on completion, what their plan is, and who will own the company in five years. If their answer is still better for you, take it. We would rather you decide with clear eyes than regret it later.
If any of this sounds like the conversation you have been meaning to have, a first call takes half an hour and commits you to nothing.
The founder
Charter Industries · London
Founder and board
Founder
A London-based investor with nearly twenty years in European mid-market businesses as a credit investor, having underwritten and invested in more than a hundred companies across every major sector and worked alongside many management teams through good years and bad.
Governance
Charter is assembling an independent board of operators with long experience of decentralised industrial groups. Appointments will be announced here as they are made.
| Chair | Independent non-executive — appointment in progress |
|---|---|
| Non-executive directors | Operating backgrounds — to follow the chair |
| Founder | To be named on incorporation |
Owners, advisers, and everyone else
andre@charter-industries.co.uk
A short note is enough: what the business does, roughly how big it is, and what you are thinking about. Everything received is read personally and treated as confidential; we will sign a non-disclosure agreement before seeing anything you would rather your competitors did not.
Advisers. A teaser or headline numbers is enough to start. We sign NDAs readily and work to your process. If a business is not for us we will say so plainly and tell you why. Charter pays customary fees for introductions.
Press and general. Charter does not solicit investment through this website, and no information here is intended as a basis for any investment decision.
Charter Industries is the name of a holding company in formation in England. This website describes its intended acquisition activity. It is not a financial promotion and does not offer, or invite any person to apply for, any investment. Charter is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.