While a typical venture studio is primarily focused on building businesses from the ground up, leaving the acquisition work to buyout private equity (PE) funds or search funds, at Lotfi, we have an open mandate. We can act as a PE fund when required and build as a venture studio when it makes sense — the goal remains the same.
We are backed by Lotfi Family Office and other investors within our close circle. We have the capability to execute acquisitions quickly and efficiently. We are supported in execution by CFG's Caldera Capital.
This might sound redundant; however, we understand that if you are in the market to exit your business, you might have come across all shapes and sizes of buyers/partners. We want to be very clear and upfront about this: we're not as*&%^#*@ (we'd like to think!).
We are empathetic and deeply understanding of the blood, sweat, and tears you have poured into your business. We have been through countless exits and M&A transactions, on various sides of the table, including the advisory side. We have seen a wide range of reasons for an exit and we respect them all the same. We will honour the effort you have put into your business to get it to where it is today and treat you and it with the respect you both deserve.
We respect everyone's journey and treat all parties with fairness and mutual respect. We always aim for a win-win.
It's not our first rodeo, we've gone through this process many times. We aim to make a decision very quickly.
We have an open mandate and flexible to structure the deal in a way that makes sense to all parties.
In many situations, we'd be open to partial exists (or similar), in the form of a partnership.
We are flexible when it comes to the industries we're looking at. We have a list of what we avoid rather than what we're after. Of course, we'd gravitate more towards what we know best; however, we are always in the market to explore a new industry.
We are flexible and open to considering opportunities with revenue ranging from $600k to $12m per annum. Profitability and positive net cash flow are important to us, at reasonable margins for the industry. A solid track record and years of operation also appeal to us.
We are in the market for acquisitions in Australia, the US (most states, but we prefer the West Coast HQ), and the UAE (only in very specific cases). We're also open to considering Canada and the UK if there's potential to expand into the Australian and/or US markets.
Lotfi Venture Studio
