History

Enterprising banking

The story of PMH Investments starts in 1993. Bart van der Meer is working as a regional director at a large Dutch bank, with over 25 years of experience. Because of his active involvement with local entrepreneurs, he notices an increasing demand among SMEs for risk capital. One example of this is the fact that, in more and more companies, a management buy-in situation emerges rather than succession from within the company. As an enterprising banker, Bart decides to facilitate these developments by establishing a fund within his banking office for the investment of risk capital in SMEs.

Eventually, this vision turns out to be too progressive for the existing policy within the bank. An urge for entrepreneurship, a need for autonomy and the desire to work on more complex corporate finance projects ultimately lead to Bart’s decision to leave the bank in order to start his own advisory firm for mergers and acquisitions. In addition to M&A advice the office also invests, both in companies as well as real estate projects. These activities will turn out to be the prelude to PMH Investments.

Independent and actively involved

From Day One, two things are clear regarding the investments: an independent position by investing only personal capital (no fund); and an active involvement in the portfolio companies that goes beyond investing capital alone. A very progressive approach at the time. And to this day, these two pillars are the foundation of the way PMH Investments operates.

Participatiemaatschappij Heerenveen

Due to growth in both M&A advisory services and investments, a need for focus and a more structured approach to portfolio management emerges. This leads to a shared vision between Bart van der Meer and his son Durk to build a complete investment firm focused on the SME segment. In 2001 Durk van der Meer decides to leave the investment banking division of a large Dutch bank in order to expand the investment activities into a full-fledged private equity company focused on SMEs, under the name Participatiemaatschappij Heerenveen (PMH).

Focus

This step marks a turning point: PMH shifts its focus, and in the following years it develops from an advisory firm with equity interests into a private equity company that also offers advisory services to third parties. The increasingly international orientation of activities in the following years results in a name change to PMH Investments. Due to the growth of its own portfolio, PMH has been focused entirely on its own portfolio companies since 2010. The advisory services for third parties have been reduced to a minimum.

Today

Today, the portfolio of PMH Investments comprises equity interests in more than 20 different companies who have their headquarters located in the Netherlands and operate both nationally and internationally.