Dual-country Searchfund
November 24, 2019
by a searcher from INSEAD in Madrid, España
Hi all,
Any experiences of launching a searchfund in 2 countries (with substantially different languages) in parallel? I am considering the option to launch searching in Spain and Germany (I native in Spanish and German), and would love to hear your thoughts/ considerations.
Thank you!
Alfredo
from Imperial College London in Zug, Switzerland
Self-funded in Switzerland and Italy. The main thing apart from usual considerations (e.g. culture, experience, language etc) I would add to pay particular attention at the legal/fiscal setup differences, both for the search unit and for the acquisition vehicle. In my case the search vehicle is based in CH as it is much less bureaucratic, far easier to comply with fewer and more transparent rules, much more flexible when doing the acquisition (both legal and fiscal) than ITA.
Recently met with 2 SFs searching in CH and DE, they confirmed the above. In fact, they funded the search unit in DE (for culture and experience reasons), but soon realised that it would have been better to fund it in CH as it would have reduced the admin burden and provided more options for the acquisition.
Last but not least, always do simulate the entire cycle (from search, acquisition, grow to exit) in order to assess the pro's and con's of each country. It sounds obvious, but it is not and I learnt it during my exit in CH.
Best
Gerardo
from University of California, Berkeley in São Paulo, SP, Brasil