An interview with Mark van Rijn, President ACG Holland

ACG Holland is our largest chapter in Europe. Can you give me a snapshot of its history until now?

The story began in 2004 when Carl A. Wangman from ACG Chicago and Patrick Hurley, the then president of ACG Global suggested that Hans van Ierland set up a Dutch chapter. We started with three sponsors, Holland Corporate Finance (the firm founded by Hans van Ierland, Houthoff Buruma Legal and Van Lanschot Bank, all of whom are still active sponsors today. The inaugural meeting was held at Van Lanschot’s offices and attended by thirty high profile professionals in the Dutch M&A community. Since then we have grown to 140 members comprising senior dealmakers, M&A advisors and all parties involved in private equity, as well as CEO’s, CFO’s and Business Development Directors of midsized companies wanting to achieve corporate growth internationally.

The chapter is a non-profit entity and typically holds 10 meetings a year with high quality speakers and programming in prime locations. The chapter has had two Presidents to date, Hans van Ierland, HPE Growth Capital and Angenita Pex, Houthoff Buruma, and this year I become the third. All 3 companies have been keen sponsors since the beginning.

What were the highlights of 2014?

Over the course of the year we grew our membership by 20% and attracted 385 members and guests to our programme of events. We also welcomed a new sponsor, Hertoghs Advocaten who hosted their first meeting in November. The topic – what to do when the tax officers knock on your door - was a surprising topic, refreshingly presented with first class role play.

Our first wine tasting, hosted by Van Lanschot Participaties at the end of the summer was enjoyed by all and built on our successful golf tournament as an alternative way for our members to network with each other. We were triggered to host the winetasting following a conversation at Eurogrowth between Chapter Executive, Justine van Buttingha Wichers and Stephen Proster, Board Member of ACG New York. Hearing this was their most popular event, it was a format we simply had to try and following the positive feedback it is one we will for sure repeat.

We also participated in the first European ACG newsletter, sharing with other chapters our opinion on the challenges of controlling data in a world where firewalls no longer exist.

What are your priorities for 2015?

We aim to grow our membership by another 20% and attract new sponsors from different business segments. We also want to launch a new range of programming formats focused on niche topics for targeted segments of our members like real estate and life sciences.

With a growing membership, we think it is also timely to strengthen our connections with other chapters. We are therefore very pleased that Amsterdam has been chosen to host Eurogrowth in 2015 and that ACG Holland member Titus Schurink has been invited to chair the event. It creates a great opportunity for the Dutch M&A community to explore deal making with their European and American counterparts. Making this event a success and attracting people from a wide range of sectors in the Netherlands is one of our main priorities for the year.

Do you expect to see a buoyant private equity sector in 2015?

It’s an exciting market with a lot of capital that has to be put to work. It’s hard to get the right deal for the right price and is very much a seller’s market. In the Dutch market we see a lot of foreign private equity parties and other funding providers entering the market, which makes it even more competitive. Good personal contacts become even more critical for doing deals.

Tell me about you?

I began my career in corporate finance with Kempen & Co after studying financial management and architecture. I switched to the firms private equity arm - Van Lanschot Participaties - in 2009 and have been with them ever since. Our team of eight investment professionals manage a portfolio of 12 companies and 13 fund of fund investments. We are structured as an evergreen, focus on minority stakes and have an indefinite investment horizon. We are funded by the Dutch private bank Van Lanschot.
I live in Amsterdam, have a daughter of two years and when there is time love to play golf or row.

What benefits does ACG bring you professionally?

ACG is a great networking platform. It offers an efficient way to talk to many people active in your field. I value the international link enormously and regularly use the internet portal. For instance we recently sold one of our portfolio companies to a UK private equity firm. We received a lot of interest in the company from the US and the portal was a good way to quickly look up the background of people. I also received several valuable enquiries via ACG itself.

What excites you about the opportunity to be ACG Holland's President for 2015?

Firstly, it is a real privilege to have been asked. The ACG Holland chapter has a fantastic mix of high profile members who are not only valuable networking partners but are also good fun. I am full of energy and enthusiasm to build further on what the Dutch chapter already been achieved.

Where do you see ACG Holland five years from now?

We will still be the largest in Europe J and have more than 200 members. We will be the best kept secret of people in the know - known for our high quality network and programming meetings. Those in the know will be proud to tell peers and colleagues that ACG Holland is a club they simply have to be a part of.