With family offices wanting to connect and invest together with peers rather than through institutional private equity vehicles, designing a structure to facilitate this that is part network / part fund, makes a lot of sense. 

This is exactly what GENTIS Partners has created as a private capital community for family offices: rather than oriented purely around capital, their aim is to also pool collective expertise.

Founding partners Philipp Haid and David Maresch come from different backgrounds. Philipp worked in private equity at Apollo and Blackrock for 14 years, David at family offices, but once they met they immediately knew they would complement each other in building something useful for the family office world.

“I met many families who had sold their business, or whose company had grown so large that they were no longer involved operationally, but who still had entrepreneurship in their DNA,” says Maresch. “Many of them want to invest directly themselves but recognize the challenge of building and keeping capable teams and be a value-added owner to buy small and mid-sized companies in a competitive market.

Recognizing this, he says the usual next step would be to invest in private equity funds, but for many families, the traditional funds only meet part of their objectives: while returns can be good, it is often a very arm’s-length relationship, far removed from the actual work of investing and building companies.

“GENTIS is our answer to that: institutional investment discipline, combined with the closeness to companies and entrepreneurship that these families are looking for.”

Maresch says the families behind GENTIS are partners, not passive capital. 

“More than 24 international entrepreneurial families are part of GENTIS today, and many of them have built and run businesses like the ones we invest in. They bring operating know-how, networks and credibility with founders that a conventional fund cannot easily replicate.”

He explains that these family partners get the institutional setup they expect, such as regulated entities in Luxembourg and Switzerland, but also real closeness to the companies, and significant co-investment opportunities.

“Whenever we acquire a company, we invite family office representatives and principals for a day on site: they see the business, meet the management, and get to know each other. As our portfolio grows, the same group comes together again and again, which is how genuine relationships form.”

As an example of the value this hands-on involvement brings, he outlines a company in the functional drinks space they are looking at.  

“One of our families, a large brewing family looking to diversify beyond beer, has offered not only to co-invest, but to open up its distribution network in Central Europe to the business.”

“At the same time, the founders of a fast-growing food supplement company within our community have offered access to their network of influencers, so we can build awareness for the brand and product online much faster.” 

That is what GENTIS is about: families and entrepreneurs bringing their own channels, networks and experience to the table, not just their capital, and doubling down on opportunities that suit them strategically through co-investments.

In terms of investments, deals most are sourced through their network of families, executives, senior advisors and a broad network of lawyers and boutique advisors. 

While GENTIS brings together families from the US, Canada, South America and Europe, the investment focus is the European small and mid-cap segment, which David believes offers one of the most attractive risk-return profiles in private markets. 

“The risk is significantly lower than in venture capital, while returns have historically been more attractive than in large cap buyouts. Compared with the US lower mid-market, Europe stands out as well: there are many companies to acquire, valuations tend to be lower, and the ratio of available companies to private equity funds is much more favourable.”

It is also the segment where he says significant value can be created by their family partners. 

“Many of these businesses are still small, often founder- or family-owned, not yet international and under-digitalised, which is exactly where the experience and networks of our families can make a real difference.”

The GENTIS team is growing, with a number of recent of the team having worked with Maresch and Haid at previous companies. 

And they’re also at the near-end of raising a $280 million fund which they’ll deploy with their combination of institutional investment discipline and family thinking, an approach unlikely to change.

“We don't see the core shifting. What will evolve is our ability to pursue larger deals through co-investment with our families, where we already have a lot of appetite.”