Independence and reactivity
Since its creation in 1989, Argos Soditic has been an independent body without the backing of a bank group or the support of an industrial firm. The group is wholly owned and operated by the Firm’s Partners which guarantees unbiased investment decisions. In addition, this independence means that we are free to invest opportunistically and entrepreneurially as we believe is best. This allows us to bring a flexible approach to investment opportunities, to accommodate the requirements of the environments in which we operate and to react quickly and constructively to opportunities as they present themselves.
Entrepreneurial spirit
Argos Soditic’s partners are active entrepreneurs themselves. The foundation in 1989 and management of Argos Soditic as an independent firm wholly owned by its partners, is itself a testimonial of their spirit of entrepreneurship. All of our deals start with the entrepreneur. The entrepreneurs we back, value our capacity to share their vision and help them to implement new strategies and managerial decisions.
This is reflected through:
- A capacity to invest in businesses where we can create value by making operational improvements (upstream/downstream integration, M&A, change of position in the value chain, etc.)
- An investment strategy favouring growth rather than financial leverage whilst leaving management teams sufficient leeway to take initiatives and operational risks,
- A systematic financial investment by Argos Soditic partners into the funds, giving them the same objectives in terms of business plan as the management team and ensuring commitment to the success of each investment.
Trust and transparency
A pivotal moment in the career of an entrepreneur and often the most exciting time in their working life is the takeover of a company – especially when this concerns their own business. So we look to base every deal on a genuine partnership that goes well beyond financial aspects. Trust, transparency and solidarity with management teams are key to such a partnership.
A management buy-out or buy-in transaction marks the beginning of a phase of new and innovative management in a business. Our understanding of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs when managing or creating their own business plays an important role and it is vital that we share the same values and speak the same language. Argos Soditic provides help and support to structure, finance and execute the business plan of managers regardless of whether the managers are already in place (MBO), from outside the company and recruited at the time of the operation (MBI), or a mixture of the two (BIMBO).
Corporate responsibility
Argos Soditic believes corporate responsibility is about being both a responsible investor and a responsible company and for many years the Argos Soditic group has promoted high environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) standards. This applies across the Argos Soditic companies in France, Italy and Switzerland.
We are convinced that applying ESG principles to our investment policy allows investee companies to be better run, have fewer business risks and are easier to realise value from.
We continue to develop our approach and we strive to:
- identify all material ESG risks and opportunities through our acquisition due diligence and help management teams to define appropriate action plans,
- accompany the implementation of these action plans within the portfolio companies through constant dialogue and in particular special ESG reporting measures.
Our investment code makes it clear that we aim to use our influence as an investor to promote a commitment in our investee companies to:
- comply, as a minimum, with applicable local and international laws;
- mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts
- enhance positive effects on the environment, workers and relevant stakeholders; and
- uphold high standards of business integrity and good corporate governance.
