Buy & build potential in gardening and landscaping
"The more complex area of green roofs, vertical gardening, sports and playground construction as well as extensive municipal greening projects are particularly high-margin." - Patrick Seidler, Partner M&A at S&B StrategyWhy should investors get involved in gardening and landscaping?
The gardening and landscaping segment is growing at an above-average rate of over 5% p.a. in Germany and will continue to grow in the coming years. The more complex area of green roofs, vertical gardening, sports and playground construction as well as extensive municipal greening projects are particularly high-margin. Beacons of green urban development such as Singapore are increasingly showing German cities the way to remain liveable in the future.
How can attractive companies be identified?
The landscaping and gardening segment is currently characterised by a high degree of fragmentation with a strong local or regional focus. In my view, companies that have a strong focus on municipal and commercial customers as well as a proven track record in tenders and can organise these profitably are particularly attractive. The company-wide use of digital tools to optimise capacity utilisation and resource management is another differentiating factor compared to other, less attractive companies.
Why is now an exciting time to enter the gardening and landscaping segment?
Increasing complexity and rising requirements in attractive tenders require investment in internal skills architecture and, increasingly, acquisitions of specialised competitors in order to survive in the competitive arena in the long term. In addition to traditional succession issues, private equity can provide regional players with the necessary capital for active consolidation - on the one hand to grow supra-regionally, and on the other hand to integrate specialised local companies and actively separate themselves from large construction companies that are showing increasing interest in garden and landscape construction, especially for more complex projects. In the construction industry in particular, ESG - especially E and G - is becoming increasingly important and primarily offers an opportunity for differentiation and price optimisation in many sub-segments and should therefore at least be considered when implementing a strategy.
Your contact person
Patrick is a founding partner of S&B Strategy GmbH and is responsible for the M&A division.
With over 12 years of experience as a managing director, consultant and manager focussing on corporate and investor acquisitions, he is a proven expert in M&A – both for buy- and sell-side mandates. Patrick gained extensive experience in the deals division of PwC, on the management board of Hubert Burda Media and in the context of M&A and strategy projects for national and international clients in Europe and Asia. Patrick completed his Master’s degree in Business Administration at the Amsterdam Business School.