Mentha Capital sells Van Vulpen to Waterland

Transaction summary

AMSTERDAM, 13 January 2023 – Mentha Capital (“Mentha”) has signed an agreement to sell Van Vulpen, a highly digitalized and process-driven (underground) infrastructure contractor with differentiating HDD capabilities and a leading position in the field of sustainability, to Waterland Private Equity (“Waterland”). In 2019, Mentha acquired a majority stake to further professionalize and grow the company. In recent years, Mentha has taken steps to make Van Vulpen stronger as a company, and less dependent on a few key people within the organization, nurturing the knowledge and experience present. For instance, the internally developed software was converted to a low-code platform, allowing knowledge from external experts to be used in its maintenance and further development. Under Mentha’s ownership, revenues grew more than 40 percent since the end of 2019. Now Waterland is stepping in to further shape this successful trajectory. Mentha's majority stake and management interest will be transferred in full to Waterland, with current management to reinvest.

Ralph Peeters, Managing Director Van Vulpen, stated: "The talented employees, the long-term relationships with clients and partners and the quality of the work delivered provide a healthy starting position for further growth. We are grateful to my predecessor and Mentha for this development and look forward to continuing this growth trajectory together with Waterland."

Financial details of the transaction are not disclosed.

Press release: Mentha

Emendo Capital acted as exclusive financial adviser to Mentha Capital.

About Van Vulpen

Van Vulpen is a leading Dutch infrastructure contractor specialized in (underground) network infrastructure. The Company is ‘partner-of-choice’ for essential infrastructure network operators in the electricity, gas and water sectors (e.g. Stedin, TenneT, Liander and Enexis). The Gorinchem-based company amongst others specializes in horizontal directional drilling (HDD), which allows them to lay pipes and cables underground over long distances with minimal impact on the environment. Van Vulpen is valued for the quality it delivers, its process-oriented way of working and its leading position in the field of sustainability. The Company’s long-term partnerships and sound contract portfolio underline this. Van Vulpen was founded in 1966, taken over by De Nijs family in 1999 and welcomed majority shareholder Mentha Capital in 2019.

For additional information on Van Vulpen, visit https://vanvulpen.eu/

About Mentha Capital

Mentha is an independent private equity firm active in the lower end of the mid-market in the Netherlands, Flanders and Denmark. Mentha invests in established, mid-sized and profitable companies with clear opportunities for growth along multiple avenues, such as organic growth, expansion in new markets or a buy-and-build approach. Investments fluctuate between 5 and 50 million euro equity per transaction in companies with EBITDA ranging from 1 to 25 million euro. Deals are typically succession transactions of family businesses, corporate spin-offs or, incidentally, secondary transactions in management buy-out or management buy-in situations.

For additional information on Mentha Capital, visit https://mentha.eu/

About Waterland Private Equity

Waterland is an independent European private equity investment group that supports entrepreneurs in realizing their growth ambitions with its unique pro-active deal sourcing and buy-and-build strategy. Waterland currently manages over € 10 billion of investor commitments. Since its founding in 1999, Waterland has grown to more than 140 team members operating across 12 offices in 10 countries.

For additional information on Waterland, visit https://waterland.nu/en