Disclaimer: Unless noted otherwise, views and analysis expressed here are the author's own and based on public sources. The article is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional for investment decisions.

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Last week I was in unseasonably warm Sweden. Stockholm for the Redeye Serial Acquirer Conference, followed by Scandinavia’s ski mecca Åre (please don't judge!). 

Fun Fact 1: Åre is owned by the Scandi hill mountain resort aggregator SkiStar ($2B EV). 

Fun Fact 2: the sportswear brand Peak Performance was born in Åre exactly 40 years ago… and it too is owned by an aggregator, Anta Sports (Jack Wolfskin, Arc’Teryx, Solomon etc.). 

I’ve got lots to download! Unable to choose between verbatim notes (the way I did it last year) and a long-form essay, I'm giving you both. You can access my notes here. Companies covered:

I also recommend the excellent Serial Acquirers Q4 2025 Update by Redeye. 

Before we dive in, a shout-out to our generous sponsors Reef Pass Investors (backers of serial acquirers / HoldCos); Strada Partners (the rollup architects); Pavleta from PPHF (your Fractional CFO par excellence); Grata (the private markets platform); and TechCredit (don't DIY debt - call Linus!). 

In this write-up, I touch on 3 main themes:

In lieu of a warm-up, my top 3 quotes from the conference:

1) How does one become the Röko CEO? Ask and ye shall receive, according to Fredrik Karlsson, who said that “Johan [Bladh - Deputy CEO] decided he wanted to be the CEO”, before hastily adding that “Very little will change - the only thing I’ll do less is sign less paperwork”. Alright then! While we may never know how the Fredrik/Johan/Tomas conversation went, this is an undoubtedly shrewd move from a seasoned exec who himself had walked out of a job 7 years ago after a compensation spat with Lifco’s Chairman and controlling shareholder Carl Bennet: Walking away from a $6M/y job to build a $600M+ revenue HoldCo. Our take on Röko, Sweden's newest unicorn. 

2) The Number One reason acquisitions fall apart - according to Johnny Thomson, the CEO of Diploma plc, a standout British compounder (15 year track record: sales up 7x, share price up 15x). In Johnny’s experience, the culprit = misjudgment of people / culture and not financial reasons. Specifically, the buyer not understanding the seller's intentions, organizational culture, transition management - or all of the above. A cure? Don't rush into deals. In-person meetings. Build relationships over years. 

Also - check out Diploma’s insane numbers:

3) Telltale signs of compounding superstars, according to the US fund managers David Marcus and Christian Solberg. Between them, David and Christian have four decades of investing in serial acquirers. 

Why do best-in-class compounders command lofty multiples? Because they are able to consistently redeploy capital into high ROCE / ROIC opportunities! 

But how to spot them early on? David talked about his fondness for family-controlled firms led by “people who are wired in a particular way”. For his part, Christian reeled off a 3-part framework consisting of:

Now, can we use these frameworks to explain the carnage among publicly listed Swedish HoldCos?   

Every year ticket prices go up, but the conference just keeps getting busier. Imagine that, one year ago, you had decided to save for the trip to Stockholm by parking money in an index of those legendary Swedish money machines. 

 Now seriously, I hope didn't actually do it, because by now you'd be out of pocket BIG TIME:

HoldCo stalwarts will be quick to point out that, over the long term, the group’s performance remains stellar. Lifco and Indutrade may be down 20-30% on a TTM basis, but they’re still up 15x and 30x from their respective IPOs.

True - but for newer vintages the track record is decidedly mixed! Adjusted for the consumer business spinoff in 2021, Volati stock is up only 1.5x over 10 years. Röko and Storskogen are both down from the IPO price levels. 

Have we reached Peak HoldCo then? I would argue not, but to paraphrase Warren Buffett, with the tide out, it’s not a pretty picture for some. 

Here’s what happened: