ETA SUCCESS: A PERFECT MATCH FOR WALDEMAR PILCH
Waldemar (Val) Pilch joined NCA’s ETA program in June 2022 and successfully closed his deal just 6 months later – the shortest search and acquisition timeline NCA has seen to date! We sat down with Val to learn more about his search journey and how he closed his deal so quickly.
Waldemar (Val) Pilch joined NCA’s ETA program with over 20 years of international entrepreneurial and financial experience. Born in Krakow, Val moved to New York in the early nineties to complete high school, his undergraduate studies, and his MBA. He started his career in New York with KPMG, then moved to Morgan Stanley and then on to Citigroup, which eventually led Val to Singapore. There he worked with manufacturing and distribution companies, but also began working with entrepreneurial companies.
“I spent six years in Southeast Asia working with everything from noodle makers in Vietnam, seafood cold storage in Indonesia, to palm oil in Malaysia,” explained Val. “As I worked on these deals with real entrepreneurs, I realized that I wanted to be on the other side of the table, I wanted to operate a company. That was when I decided to really pursue that path.”
Val returned to Poland around 2015, where he served as Managing Director for the country’s largest commercial lighting company, and led the company through a period of high-growth and an exit process in 2019.
“After selling the company, I realized that I wanted my next path to combine all of my previous experiences: running a company and being a long term investor/advisor,” said Val. “I just needed one additional piece: acquiring a company. So, I started researching, which led me to the search fund path, and then I came across NCA as a premier platform in Europe. So I applied to the program with a very concrete idea of what I wanted to do in terms of ETA.”
Val’s search was centered around Polish companies in Health & Wellness industries with a focus on Dietary Supplements companies, and after only 6 months Val had found and acquired a company that matched his criteria perfectly: Formeds, a Polish producer and distributor of clean ingredient vitamins, minerals, and supplements.
LOTS OF HARD WORK.. AND A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK
When congratulated about his fast turnaround in the program, Val chalked his success up to having very clear search criteria, and a few other factors. “A lot of the work was done at the PPM stages,” he explained.
“Hashing out the investment thesis was really important. I strongly believe that a really good PPM can be an amazing shortcut. And while a lot of hard work and late nights went into it all, I was also really lucky that I found this company very early on in my search and it matched almost every single criteria in terms of what I was looking for.”
When we sat down with Val for this interview, he had just closed his deal one week earlier and was in the thick of post-acquisition activity. “What I found – and still find – most exciting about the company is that it is well-run, it has a great team, and they make fabulous products,” he said.
“I’m really focused on the people right now and getting to know the team, down to the last person. I’m excited for the future and I’m excited to bring out the best of Formeds in the years to come. I’m also super excited about the future of ETA,” Val added. “I think it’s an amazing opportunity for entrepreneurs as well as for investors, and I’m very thankful to NCA and our co-investors for swiftly moving forward with this opportunity.
NCA AS A PARTNER FOR ETA
When asked how NCA supported him during his search and acquisition, Val was quick to credit NCA with playing a key role in the speediness of the process. “Without NCA, I wouldn’t have been able to do it in six months,” he explained. “I think for anyone doing this without NCA, it would’ve been a much bigger struggle and would’ve taken a lot longer just to get to the deal. NCA’s robust processes and their support in financial modeling, investor relations, and legal definitely provided a valuable shortcut.”
NCA knows from experience what it takes to set up and run a successful business. As co-investors in each acquisition under our program, NCA is deeply committed to the success of every one of our NCA Entrepreneurs and their companies. Val’s acquisition proves our program is successful and further highlights NCA Entrepreneurs as ideally positioned to find, acquire, and grow companies backed by the support, structure, and know-how offered by the NCA team.
Val’s successful acquisition also further reinforces our shared belief in ETA as a unique way of addressing succession challenges facing SMEs, who are the backbone of our economy. Our Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition program ensures business legacy and continuity for SMEs on a global scale, as all stakeholders share aligned interests and a commitment to long term success. We are thrilled to congratulate Val on this acquisition and look forward to continuing to support him and Formeds.
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For more information about Val, please visit: https://www.novastone-ca.com/searcher-waldemar-en.php
For more information about ForMeds, please visit: https://www.formeds.eu/
For more information about NCA, please visit: https://novastone-ca.com/index.php