Newsroom

Ventaflex, based in Altenberge (North Rhine-Westphalia), is a specialist in pre-insulated air duct systems produced with its patented Rotafusion process — and becomes the first company in the Cornus Holding portfolio.

The German Mittelstand is home to some of the most resilient businesses in Europe — profitable, with loyal customer bases, recurring revenues, built to last. Yet a striking pattern emerges: only 20% of German SMEs currently use AI applications.

Recently we shared insights from the KfW succession barometer, focusing on the scale of the business successions ahead in the German Mittelstand. The DIHK Report on Business Succession 2025 now adds an important operational perspective from practitioners’ experience.

The latest data from the KfW succession barometer highlights a structural shift in the German SME landscape: by 2029, up to 114,000 SMEs per year may shut down — not because of weak performance, but due to a lack of succession.

We are pleased to share that Cornus Holding has successfully completed its seed financing round. This milestone provides the foundation for building a long-term oriented serial acquirer holding, focused on partnering with high-quality European SMEs and supporting them in their next phase of development.

Our strong pipeline of outstanding, well-run businesses with loyal customers and resilient, recurring revenues confirms the attractiveness of our proposition.

We are excited to deploy our capital and operational expertise to build a differentiated European platform over the coming years.

We are looking for ambitious people ready to take on responsibility as managing director of one of our portfolio companies: no start-up risk, but a stable, profitable business with real room to grow — and the freedom to make it happen.

Dun & Bradstreet Europe just published their 2025 report on SME succession in Switzerland, one of our target markets. The data shows that almost 14% of companies in our size bracket (10–49 employees) are currently looking for a succession solution. They also note that over 90,000 companies will need new management or ownership within the next five years, affecting more than 500,000 jobs at the heart of the Swiss economy.

This is an exciting opportunity for talented mid-career leaders to step into the CEO role of well-established, profitable, cash-generative businesses that have plenty of runway left. Reach out to us if you can see yourself taking the reins of such a business and igniting its next round of growth — not only in Switzerland, but also in Germany or Austria.

We have just reviewed the latest Dealsuite M&A Monitor for the DACH region (H1 2025). The findings validate our target valuation range of 4–6x EBITDA and confirm that we continue to see attractive opportunities within the SME segment.

The report also illustrates that certain sectors are currently trading at significantly higher multiples — levels that, in our view, will only be sustainable if supported by accelerated growth trajectories and, most importantly within our investment logic, strong cash-flow conversion.

In addition, the study underlines the value of scale-driven multiple expansion, reinforcing our thesis that growing smaller companies is rewarded not only through higher earnings but also through a disproportionately larger uplift in valuations.

We are thrilled to welcome Volker Hichert as Chairman of the Advisory Board and Senior Advisor to Cornus Holding.