Avallon MBO has launched its largest fund to date with €171.5 million in capital, expanding the Polish private equity firm’s investment capacity as it increases its focus on technology-driven transformation across traditional industries.
The new vehicle represents Avallon’s fourth fund cycle and is significantly larger than its previous investment vehicles.
Avallon plans to use the fund to continue investing alongside managers, founders and business owners, with a particular emphasis on helping established Polish companies adopt modern technologies, strengthen their competitive positions and expand internationally.
The new fund also broadens Avallon’s potential investor base to include family foundations, adding a new category of capital alongside the institutional investors that have historically participated in private equity funds.
Avallon is one of the pioneers of the management buyout market in Poland and has spent approximately 25 years backing managers as they become business owners and entrepreneurs.
Since its founding, the firm has participated in more than 150 transactions alongside management teams and has invested more than PLN 1 billion into the development of portfolio companies.
Those companies have invested an additional nearly PLN 1 billion in capital expenditures during Avallon’s ownership periods, supporting modernization, expansion and operational improvements.
Avallon said its portfolio companies have, on average, doubled both revenue and EBITDA during the investment period, while average employment growth has reached approximately 20%.
The firm’s investment history spans consumer products, healthcare, business services, technology and engineering.
Past investments have included businesses such as VELVET Care, Good Food, Wosana, Medort, Marketplanet, Globema, MPS, Stangl Technik and Bipromet.
Avallon was also involved in the expansion of medical mobility company Meyra, including an acquisition in Germany that the firm describes as one of the more successful acquisitions of a German company by a Polish business.
The firm sees continued opportunity in Poland’s management buyout market as many privately owned companies founded during the 1990s confront succession planning, industry consolidation and the need for additional technological modernization.
Management buyouts can provide founders with a succession path while giving management teams a direct ownership stake and access to private equity capital for growth.
Avallon is positioning its latest fund around that intersection of succession, entrepreneurship and technological transformation.
The company expects technology to play an increasingly important role even within businesses operating in traditionally non-technology sectors.
Its strategy will therefore include supporting investments in digitalization, automation and other modern technologies that can improve productivity, operational performance and competitiveness.
Avallon’s model relies heavily on its network of executives, founders and entrepreneurs.
Over its 25-year history, the firm has developed relationships with more than 10,000 managers and entrepreneurs and evaluated approximately 5,000 potential investment opportunities.
The fourth fund provides Avallon with additional capital to scale that strategy and pursue larger or more ambitious investments while continuing to focus on mid-sized Polish businesses.
The firm ultimately wants to help build companies capable of competing more effectively internationally while supporting broader transformation within the Polish economy.
KEY QUOTES:
“25 years of Avallon is not only the story of the development of the MBO market, but also our active contribution to building Polish capital and strengthening the domestic economy. Ahead of us are further challenges—supporting the technological and business transformation of private companies established in the 1990s, as well as their international expansion. Today, private equity funds possess significant intellectual capital derived from transactional and operational experience, as well as extensive networks. Increasingly, they serve as an effective mechanism for allocating capital to companies with the highest growth potential.”
Tomasz Stamirowski, Managing Partner at Avallon MBO
“We are often described as a ‘fund with a human face.’ From the very beginning, we have placed great emphasis on ethics, trust, and values such as commitment, integrity, and professionalism. For us, business is not only about capital, but also about long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. This may explain why many of our transactions are carried out not only with managers, but also with founders or their successors.”
Robert Więcławski, Senior Partner at Avallon MBO
