Interview with new SHS Senior Advisor Georg Helg

You joined SHS this February to support the team in its market activities, especially in the areas of business development, communication and deal-sourcing. What was your motivation to work for SHS?

With over 35 years of professional experience in M&A consulting and private equity, I have built a very extensive network of contacts and enjoy the exchange with long-time companions across Europe every day. I have been in contact with SHS Capital for several years.

Since 1993, SHS has developed an unparalleled depth of healthcare expertise in the DACH region and enjoys an equally high reputation among investors and market companions from the private equity environment as well as among intermediaries such as M&A advisors. The performance of the previous five fund generations speaks for itself.

Furthermore, the team culture and dynamics excited me and, last but not least, the sustained high level of activity in the healthcare sector also contributed to my motivation to join SHS Capital. In short, I quickly became enthusiastic about working with the SHS team.

Now that you have been active for several months, what does a typical day in your role at SHS look like?

With the new Fund VI, SHS Capital has entered a new dimension and is now capable of supporting even larger companies in their growth through minority or majority investments. At the same time, internationalisation continues, and we are now looking for attractive investment opportunities throughout Europe.

Consequently, this requires a certain repositioning in the market with the aim of generating the right deal flow for Fund VI. My focus in the first few months was therefore particularly on approaching investment banks and M&A advisors in the SHS core regions of DACH, Benelux and Scandinavia. There are approximately 250 to 300 relevant advisory firms in these regions. A typical working day therefore consists of emailing these advisors, several video conferences, or even face-to-face meetings to present the positioning of SHS Capital and talk to my contacts about potential transaction ideas.

In the meantime, I have spoken with the majority of these advisors about SHS Capital. Now I also have more time to approach target companies directly that seem particularly interesting to the SHS team. My job here is to open the doors to shareholders, managing directors or supervisory bodies and to raise interest in an exchange with and potentially receiving support from SHS.

What do you currently observe in your conversations with the various market participants in the healthcare M&A sector?

The large number of agnostic M&A advisors who are not explicitly specialised in healthcare are very interested in developing more activities in the healthcare sector. The main reason for this lies in the mentioned sustained high level of activity as well as the high company valuations in this sector, which is positively influenced by various growth drivers. The growing importance of the healthcare sector for the advisor scene also increases the attention for SHS Capital, which is a welcome discussion partner and client due to its wealth of experience in the healthcare sector.

The combination of reputation, the SHS team’s long-standing experience and the SHS track record results in a high credibility.

Looking at the SHS portfolio at the moment, which companies do you think are worth a look by potential buyers in the near future?

 We currently have more than 25 portfolio companies, all of which share the common trait of rapid growth based on innovative products and services. For instance, we are represented in the specialty pharma and drug delivery segment with Develco and AMW, in the CRO segment with PathoQuest, in medtech with Tyromotion and Lowenco, and in healthtech with Incision and Dr. Dropin. All these companies demonstrate significant sales and growth rates of over 30% p.a., some even significantly higher. If you consider this segment exciting, it is definitely worth investing time here to get to know these companies.

The development of the drug delivery specialist AMW, which SHS has been accompanying for some time, is certainly very interesting. The company ndd, with its lung function diagnostics portfolio, is also increasingly maturing. And finally, of course, the fast-growing Develco from Schopfheim, which has developed extraordinarily positively since SHS became involved.