Continuity
Employees and customers should not notice a change of ownership
We invest in well-run companies where management wants to stay on and keep the business running exactly as before.
We do not consolidate or integrate the companies we buy. Nor do we ask them to adopt new systems, replace their own people with shared group functions, or spend time on group-wide projects.
For employees, having NDC as majority owner means job security. There will be no future mergers or relocations.
When the CEO wants to step back, we prefer succession to be planned well in advance and, where possible, filled from within to preserve continuity. We also hope the CEO will want to stay involved in NDC and help follow up the companies we acquire.
Decentralised management
We prefer an entrepreneurial culture to a corporate hierarchy
NDC does not get involved in the day-to-day running of the companies we buy. That responsibility rests with the CEO of each company.
NDC will be a group of independent companies. Every company runs into difficulties at some point. We believe smaller companies that have held on to their entrepreneurial culture are better at adapting and finding new routes to profitability than large groups where responsibility has been pushed up the hierarchy.
What NDC brings is first and foremost capital when one of our companies wants to invest, whether in organic growth or in acquisitions. We are also happy to be a sounding board for the CEOs who want one.
The companies we invest in remain independent, but many will still value being part of a larger family. The CEO role can be a lonely one, and as NDC grows you will get to know others in the same position. Many management challenges are the same across sectors.
Extreme long-termism
Decisions are made with an infinite time horizon
Many investors buy in order to sell again. We believe that model can come at the expense of what is best for the company in the long run.
NDC’s companies will not be run for the next quarterly report or annual accounts, and we will never prepare them for sale. We will be a permanent home for our companies, and every decision will be made with a long-term perspective.