Argos Soditic recruits four for its new Frankfurt office

José Rojo
22 February 2016

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Mid-market buyout house Argos Soditic has set up operations in Germany with a Frankfurt office, to be headed by DI Kapital’s Frank Hermann and three of his former colleagues.

As Argos's partner in Germany, Hermann will oversee a five-strong team featuring three of his current colleagues at DI Kapital. The four will be joined by one of the investment managers currently working from Argos's Paris office.

Hermann's career began at consultancy McKinsey & Co, where he was an engagement manager between 1994-1999. In the latter year, he was recruited as a director by Electra Partners. In 2005, when a part of the GP's investment team span out of Electra and created Cognetas Capital, he followed suit and was appointed partner at the new firm.

In 2012, as Cognetas rebranded to Motion Equity Partners and shut down its London and Frankfurt operations, Hermann left to become an adviser at Axcel's Danish office. In 2013, he went on to found his own firm, DACH-focused mid-market buyout house DI Kapital.

The opening of a German office by Argos brings the firm closer to a market it had yet to venture into. A source close to Argos told unquote" that dealflow in the country could take a while to develop: "Having a multi-country approach means we can be selective and these things take time. For instance, we opened our office in Belgium in 2012 but didn't sign our first acquisition in the country until late 2015. We're also looking at transformative deals such as MBIs and carve-outs, and Germany can be a complex market."

According to the same source, the new German office will not only focus on mapping DACH deal opportunities for Argos but will also assist existing portfolio companies looking to expand in the country. On both fronts, the five-strong Frankfurt team will work closely with their Geneva-based peers, who have overseen Argos's previous German-speaking dealflow to date.

The announcement of a new office follows an active start to 2016 for Argos, a sector-agnostic investor that targets companies in the €20-200m enterprise value range. So far this year, the GP has acquired Fondations Capital's software developer Talentia for an estimated €100m and backed portfolio company Valco in its purchase of peer Guichon Valves.