Owner Dependence

Listen to this episode from Think Like an Owner on Spotify. My guest on this episode is Freddie Bellhouse. Freddie and his partner Nick Ashford are co-founders of Fordhouse, a UK-based acquirer of small companies. In the eight years since they’re founding in 2014, they’ve done 25 deals and are beginning to consider more fund-like permanent capital structures for future acquisitions. I was fortunate enough to meet Freddie’s partner Nick in New York City, and we hit it off immediately. He’ll be a future guest on here pretty soon. Freddie and I talk about lessons learned going deal by deal, building expertise in integration and organization building, and differences between the US and UK small private equity markets.Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.Links:Freddie on LinkedInFordhouseEIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme)Topics:(3:30) – Can you walk us through some of the deals you’ve accomplished in your career?(7:24) – What are some nuances between the US and UK in regards to SMB?(9:55) – Have you met any people in_______(11:12) – Are there any European companies that have multiples as low as the US?(12:02) – Why have you decided to raise a fund instead of raising deal by deal?(15:03) – What’s an example of a company where you needed to build out the executive team function?(17:53) – How do you evaluate whether a team is ready for growth?(19:15) – Have you noticed that most of the compounding growth at a company happens at years 4 & 5? Why do people sell right before that?(22:13) – The scripted nature of acquisitions(24:19) – What are the differences in transaction costs between the US and the UK?(26:21) – What kinds of offers have you received for businesses?(27:45) – How intriguing is Fordhouse as an acquirer?(30:27) – What is the longer-term focus in your work?(33:10) – How do you think about keeping managers happy in terms of liquidity or dividends?(35:33) – What tends to go wrong when interests diverge?(37:39) – What causes a mediocre performance?(40:48) – Is there one company you’ve acquired that’s vastly outperformed the others?(42:35) – Thoughts on integrating companies(43:45) – What are some of the example PCV’s that you’ve enjoyed studying?(46:57) – What college class would you teach if it could be about anything?(48:14) – What’s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on?(49:20) – What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?