From one generation of builders to the next.
Graculus Industries is looking to acquire one exceptional founder- or family-owned European industrial business. We will take responsibility for running the company ourselves, working alongside its existing people and investing in its future.
The company we acquire will become the starting point for Graculus and shape how Graculus develops over time.
Start a confidential conversationAt some point, the question changes.
For years, the questions are about building the business.
The next customer. Another machine. Finding good people. A larger factory. A new market. Then the difficult years, when costs rise, a customer leaves, or something breaks at exactly the wrong time.
Over time, a workshop becomes a company. People stay. Skills are passed on.
Perhaps your wife helped in the early years. Perhaps some of the people working with you today joined twenty or thirty years ago.
Your children may have grown up around the business and then chosen lives of their own.
And eventually the question changes.
Who should own this business after me?
Price matters. But it is rarely the whole question.
Employees whose livelihoods depend on the company. Customers who have dealt with the same people for years. Technical knowledge that may never have been written down. A reputation built slowly and lost quickly.
There is also the name above the door.
Choosing the next owner means deciding who you trust to take responsibility for it all. Not just who will own the shares, but who will actually run the company when you're ready to step back.
Industry belongs here.
Across the Alpine region, manufacturing is often woven directly into the places where people live.
A specialist manufacturer can sell across the world while remaining deeply connected to a town or valley of only a few thousand people. Employees stay for decades. Technical skills pass between generations. Suppliers, customers and other industrial businesses often sit surprisingly close to one another.
This creates companies that can be highly international without becoming detached from where they came from.
Some of that advantage sits inside the factory. Some sits around it, in skilled people, supplier relationships and industrial knowledge built over time.
The environment is not easy. Energy costs, labour shortages, regulation and international competition are real. But they have not erased generations of technical capability.
This is where Graculus began and where we feel a particular connection. Our search extends across Europe where strong industrial businesses, technical capability and the right ownership situations come together.
Your business would be our starting point.
Graculus is deliberately starting with one company.
We are not adding another business to an existing portfolio. We are starting with one company and building from there.
We will take over responsibility for running the business, working with the people who already know it. You won't need to find one person who can replace everything you do. We will share those responsibilities with the existing team and bring in additional expertise where needed. Responsibility for running the company passes to us at completion, with an agreed handover so you can step back.
We want to understand what has made the company successful and then help take it into its next stage. That may mean strengthening the team and business systems, investing in products and manufacturing, reaching new customers or markets, or adding complementary capabilities through acquisition.
We are not looking for a company to fit into Graculus.
We are looking for the company from which to build Graculus.
Keep what makes the company special. Build what it needs next.
We invest with a long-term perspective and without a predetermined exit date. We want to develop the business from the strengths already there.
Long-term ownership does not mean keeping a successful company unchanged. Founders themselves spend decades developing products, entering markets, investing in people and adapting the business as circumstances change.
We want to understand what made the company successful before deciding what should change, then build from those strengths.
Understand why it works.
Learn the products, processes, relationships and judgement behind years of success.
Keep what makes it special.
Strengthen the people and capabilities the company needs for what comes next.
Build the next stage.
Develop products, invest in engineering and manufacturing, reach new customers and markets, and add complementary capabilities where they make the company stronger.
The company we are looking for
The experience and backing to take responsibility.
Team invests their own capital.
Prior professional transaction experience.
Combined experience across transactions, ownership and operations.
We have the experience and relationships required to complete an acquisition and support the business afterwards.
We invest our own capital and have established relationships with family offices and long-term private investors who can invest alongside us where appropriate. Financing is structured around the business, the owner and the circumstances of the succession.
Three people. Clear responsibilities.
We came by different routes. We chose the same place to build.
The team remains directly involved from the first conversation and is supported by an established network of advisers, industry specialists and engineers who bring additional expertise where required.
Meet the team →
You don’t need to be actively considering a sale.
Succession often starts quietly: a question from your accountant, or a sense that it may be time to understand your options. A first conversation does not need to lead anywhere.
We're happy to meet at your company, or somewhere more discreet if you prefer. If it's easier, your accountant or adviser can contact us on your behalf. We also welcome conversations with advisers supporting founder- and family-owned businesses, and introductions to relevant owners and opportunities.
All conversations are confidential and carry no obligation.