European lower mid-market private equity

Private equity for the next generation of European business owners.

We provide capital, strategic guidance, and hands-on support to entrepreneurial management teams acquiring and growing established SMEs across Europe.

Our strategy Investments Team

Arada Capital Partners is a private equity firm focused on small and medium-sized businesses in Europe. We invest through the search fund model and similar vehicles, backing entrepreneurs who identify, acquire and lead a single company for the long term.

We believe Europe's best small companies deserve a second generation of ownership, not an ending.

The opportunity

Europe's SMEs are changing hands.

Europe's SME base faces a generational transition: thousands of profitable, well-established businesses need new ownership and a next phase of professionalisation. We fund that transition — first by financing the search, then by investing alongside the entrepreneur at acquisition, and finally by supporting the company at board level through to exit.

99.8%

of all European enterprises are small and medium-sized businesses — the backbone of the continent's economy.

A generation is retiring.

A large share of these proven, resilient businesses now needs a generational handover that simply isn't there. Giving them continuity is our purpose.

320+

search funds now operate outside the US and Canada, across more than 40 countries — a market we have backed since the beginning.

Strategy

Two moments, one commitment.

We invest at both stages of the search fund lifecycle — and we stay involved from the first day of the search to the exit.

First

Search capital

We finance the search phase, backing entrepreneurs during the 18–30 months they spend identifying and negotiating the right company. We select for judgement, resilience and coachability — and we are available throughout.

Then

Acquisition equity

When the target is identified, we invest directly into the holding company alongside the searcher. We underwrite each acquisition on its own merits and take a meaningful minority position. Where our experience is relevant to the business, we also join the board.

How we work

Four stages, one company.

Stage one Search

We fund and support the entrepreneur through sourcing, screening and negotiation — bringing our network, our pipeline and our own deal experience to the process.

Stage two Acquire

We help structure the transaction, run due diligence alongside the searcher, and commit acquisition equity into the holding company.

Stage three Build

We support the entrepreneur on the things that compound: professionalising management, disciplined capital allocation, systems, and selective add-on acquisitions. In the companies where our sector experience and network are relevant, we do that work from the board.

Stage four Exit

We prepare the company for a sale to a strategic buyer, a larger private equity firm or a family office, and we manage the process alongside the CEO.

Our strategy Investments Team

What we bring

Access, judgement and alignment.

A proprietary view of the CEO and the company

At Arada Capital Partners, we place primary importance on the alignment between the CEO's profile and the company's characteristics, which allows us to design a tailored value creation plan that maximizes the probability of success, both in terms of growth and long-term value creation. We anchor this approach in the experience gained from numerous past transactions, which has enabled us to build a clear framework on the factors that drive successful cases and the risks we need to anticipate and avoid.

Privileged access to deal flow

Reputation compounds in this market. Searchers come to us directly and early, giving us first sight of opportunities that sit below the radar of firms with larger cost structures.

Involvement where it counts

We are present throughout the search. After the acquisition we take a board seat in the companies where our experience and our network add something the entrepreneur would not otherwise have — not as a matter of routine. In every company, our searchers have direct access to experienced microcap CEOs, former search fund entrepreneurs and an established M&A network.

Capital committed alongside yours

The management team invests its own capital alongside investors, and carried interest is tied to performance. We are invested in the same outcome as our investors and our entrepreneurs.

Investments

The companies we back.

Ayete Catering Group

Spain · Food services

Ayete Catering Group

A catering group built through the acquisition and integration of two companies: Ciboulette, in social catering, and Domenico, in corporate catering.

Acquired in 2026

Italy · Waste management

New Roglass

Glass recycling from its plant in Liscate, near Milan, turning packaging and flat-glass waste back into furnace-ready raw material for the circular economy.

Acquired in 2025→

→

Italy · Testing, inspection & certification

ELTI is now NexTicc Group

NexTicc Group

A build-up strategy in Testing, Inspection & Certification that began with the acquisition of ELTI in 2024, with NexTicc Group formed in 2025 as the platform for the sector.

ELTI acquired in 2024 · group formed in 2025→

Spain · Industrial

Adinor

Valladolid manufacturer and distributor of aluminium profile and hardware systems, supplying commercial, office and residential installations across Spain.

Acquired in 2024→

Spain · Software

Azeler

Subscription ERP and marketplace platform for the reused auto parts industry, connecting more than 280 authorised dismantlers and 4,000 suppliers.

Acquired in 2024→

Portugal · Building materials

Effisus

Weatherproofing and sealing systems for building envelopes, sold into construction and renovation markets from Portugal, Spain, the UK and the Middle East.

Acquired in 2023→

Spain · Software

LIBNOVA

Digital preservation and data management software, operating in 17 countries for universities, government agencies and research institutions.

Acquired in 2023→

Spain · Scientific instrumentation

IESMAT

Supply, installation and technical support of scientific instrumentation for material and nanoparticle characterisation, distributing leading international brands under exclusivity in Spain.

Acquired in 2022→

Team

People who have done this before.

Management team

Javier Puig

Investor & Advisory Partner

José Miguel Maté

Managing Partner ACP I

Jacobo Blanquer

Managing Partner ACP I

Sonsoles Santamaría

Managing Partner ACP I

Advisors & operating partners

Contact

Talk to us.

Whether you are a searcher raising capital, an investor exploring the asset class, or an owner considering a transition — we would like to hear from you.

general@aradacp.com

Office Núñez de Balboa 120, 6th Floor Right
28006 Madrid, Spain