How a partnership with Equity House works

Pollen Street Capital typically commits between €100 million and €200 million in equity per platform. This, in addition to modest levels of third-party debt financing, provides Equity House with a strong and flexible capital base to pursue an ambitious acquisition program across the DACH region.

The investment in Equity House is from Pollen Street’s most recent fund, which has a 10-year life, as is typical of private equity funds. Pollen Street operates a patient and flexible investment approach and typically invests in businesses for 3-6 years, depending on factors such as the growth of the business and prevailing market conditions.

Pollen Street’s investment approach is to build market leaders whose success prevails beyond their investment time horizon as has been demonstrated by many of the companies that they have invested in and subsequently sold.

An exit by Pollen Street could take several different forms depending on the underlying profile of the Equity House group and prevailing market conditions. Pollen Street has a track record of existing portfolio companies via (i) trade sales (for example to a larger financial services or wealth management group with the resources to take the platform further or provide additional capability and client services); (ii) secondary private equity; or (iii) via IPOs.

Management equity participation through reinvestment into Equity House and the management incentive plan means key people are financially aligned through to exit and benefit directly from the value created. Certain buyers may request that shareholders rollover part of their existing shareholding into the new buyer group. We would consult Equity House shareholders at the time but this has typically been well received by rollover shareholders, allowing them to realise part of their proceeds whilst continuing to benefit from the continued growth of the group.

Pollen Street is a “hands-on” investor but this typically relates to strategy, capital allocation including in relation to acquisitions, and project work with a combination of the Pollen Street deal team and operating partners working in partnership with management teams on specific projects (e.g. finance transformation, AI and automation, technology system vendor selection and implementation, data and analytics, KPI reporting, marketing, acquisitions, senior hires).

Peter Warnøe serves as CEO and Founder, holding overall responsibility for group performance, acquisitions, and board relations. He reports to a board composed primarily of Pollen Street Capital representatives and in time other non-executive directors, comprised of senior industry professionals. Philipp Flesch leads M&A and financial consolidation. The team will be further strengthened in due course by a COO and other key executive positions as the group grows. Where there are appropriate candidates within acquired business we would be open to promoting from within the group.

An Executive Management Board (EMB) comprising the CEOs and founders of all acquired companies convenes monthly to align and influence strategy, identify synergies, explore centralization opportunities, and develop cross-selling initiatives. The EMB is chaired by Peter Warnøe and is intentionally designed as a collaborative forum where the voices of key individuals and company leaders shape group-level decisions.

Monthly one-on-one meetings are held between the EH team, led by Peter Warnøe, and each individual senior manager, covering both financial performance and strategic priorities. Companies within the group will be expected to provide monthly finance and KPI packs, as well as updates on strategic priorities and progress, which will form the basis of the meetings. On an annual basis, a full-day strategy session is organised for each company individually, as well as a group-level strategy day bringing together managers across the portfolio.

Equity House is incorporated in Zug, Switzerland, one of Europe’s leading jurisdictions for financial and holding company structures. Over time, the plan is to establish two regional holding structures: one for Switzerland and one covering Germany and Luxembourg, both reporting to the EH holding company in Zug. The EH team is based in Zurich, which serves as the operational headquarters of the group.

Equity House is built on an anchor-and-hub model, not a federation, and not a full roll-up.

Anchor acquisitions: firms large enough to operate as a standalone regulated entity with their own client-facing identity, retain autonomy in the areas that most affect clients and culture: investment process and philosophy, direct client relationships, senior hiring within the business, and brand. Anchor businesses keep their name, with "part of Equity House Group" as co-branding, and any move toward a unified group brand is discussed collaboratively with management.

Integration focuses on defined operating domains where scale offers clear advantage: middle-office operations, technology and data, compliance tooling and reporting, procurement, and M&A capability. These are phased in over 18–36 months, on a plan agreed with each management team. Bolt-on acquisitions (smaller firms) integrate more directly into the relevant anchor.

Governance parameters requiring group consent are documented at completion. In practice they typically cover material senior hires, significant changes to investment mandate, and budget or capex above defined thresholds, not typically day-to-day operations.

The EH team works alongside managers as an extension of their leadership. Support is organised around three areas: strategic (M&A sourcing and execution, business planning, board input), financial (reporting, consolidation, capital allocation), and technical (technology, AI, data and operational best practice).

In practice this means a dedicated point of contact within the EH team, regular touchpoints through monthly reporting meetings and the Executive Management Board, and project-based support drawing on both the central EH team and Pollen Street’s operating partners when specific expertise is needed (e.g. finance transformation, technology implementation, M&A integration).

The EH team also actively sources and evaluates new acquisition opportunities, and creates structured opportunities, through the EMB and group strategy days, for managers to collaborate, share expertise, and identify commercial synergies across the group.

Joining Equity House gives access to a platform built to accelerate growth. The group aims to provide:

• —Capital: funding for both organic expansion and M&A, removing one of the most common constraints founder-led businesses face when scaling.
• —Technology & AI: group-wide platforms designed to improve internal efficiency and enhance the client experience — capabilities that are difficult and costly to build independently, and increasingly a differentiator in the market.
• —Shared infrastructure and expertise: access to a team with deep DACH wealth management experience, plus shared resources across the group.
• —Group advantages: shared expertise, brand strength, product sharing, and broader career opportunities for employees.
• —Aligned upside: as a shareholder of EH, you benefit directly from the value creation driven together with our majority shareholder.

The EH team itself is built from people with operational experience in founder-driven companies. Peter Warnøe, has a long track record of helping growth companies optimise sales and earnings and supporting their transformation from entrepreneurial-driven businesses into more mature ones.

Medium-term benefits move from access to capital toward tangible operating leverage, delivered progressively over 18–36 months on a plan agreed with each management team:

• —Compliance & regulatory reporting: shared compliance tooling and reporting framework, reducing the cost and management time your business spends on regulatory obligations previously handled in-house.
• —Technology & client platforms: group-wide CRM, portfolio management, and client reporting systems providing enterprise-grade technology and AI tools that a standalone firm could not economically build. Migration is planned with each business, not imposed.
• —Middle-office operations: shared functions such as reconciliation oversight, corporate actions, and management reporting, designed to complement existing custodian relationships rather than duplicate what banks already provide.
• —HR & people functions: shared HR infrastructure covering payroll, benefits administration, and recruitment support, reducing administrative burden and giving your people access to broader career and development opportunities across the group.
• —Procurement & vendor terms: group-negotiated contracts for core suppliers (e.g. data providers, custodians, IT infrastructure), giving your business better terms than it could secure independently.
• —M&A pipeline access: the opportunity to participate in or lead bolt-on acquisitions sourced centrally by the EH team, expanding your business without you having to run an independent deal process.
• —Talent & best-practice network: ongoing access to the Executive Management Board and group strategy days, where you can draw on the operational experience of peer managers facing similar growth challenges.

These services are phased in progressively rather than imposed on day one.

We see three key attractions when it comes to incentivization: (i) the opportunity to be part of a larger group with increased promotion opportunities and associated remuneration; (ii) upside opportunity through reinvesting alongside Pollen Street and other acquisitions; (iii) participation by key managers and employees in the EH Management Incentive Program (“MIP”), a highly attractive incentive scheme which pays out a percentage of equity proceeds above a money multiple returns hurdle, creating clear alignment between the EH team, Pollen Street Capital, and the management of each acquired company.

We acquire businesses because they are well-run, have attractive growth potential, and there is cultural alignment. People are the critical element of our businesses and their future success typically depends on those that have built and delivered this success historically. It is important that we incentivize and retain these people whilst empowering them to continue to grow their respective businesses whilst delivering enhanced client service. We will do this by investing in systems and processes to increase efficiency and allow managers to spend more of their time with clients.

As EH grows, this creates new roles and opportunities within individual companies and at the group level that would not necessarily present themselves on a standalone basis. We want ambitious, talented people to see joining EH not as a change of ownership, but as a genuine step forward in their careers. Operational improvements focus on adding capabilities, such as shared infrastructure, technology, and back-office support, rather than restructuring what already works.

In addition, EH provides access to capital, technology, and the central infrastructure of a larger and well invested, organisation.

Equity House is targeting €20-30 billion in assets under management via 20 to 30 acquisitions over the investment period. The DACH wealth management market remains highly fragmented, with many independent, founder-led firms managing significant assets and looking for a succession planning solution or capital to increase scale and invest in technology, providing significant opportunity to grow EH both organically and via acquisitions.

The focus is on high-net-worth investors, spanning from qualified and professional investor categories through to large (or multi-) family offices and, selectively, institutional clients. These are the segments where the DACH wealth management market offers the strongest combination of scale and complexity to justify the level of service an integrated platform can provide. Each acquired company continues to serve its own clients directly, with no change in existing relationships or service models.

Wealth management consolidation in Europe has broadly followed two models. The federation model keeps acquired firms permanently independent; autonomy is high, but duplication and sub-scale persist, and the group is worth roughly the sum of its parts. The full roll-up model pushes hard integration from day one; real cost synergies, but high execution risk and a difficult proposition for founders asked to give up their identity quickly. Several recent European attempts have faced challenges under these approaches.

Equity House is building a third path: an anchor-and-hub model. Firms that join retain meaningful autonomy in the areas that matter: investment process, client relationships, and brand, while progressively deeper shared services are built at group level. Three features reinforce this: Pollen Street's specialisation in financial services, an operator-led rather than deal-led team, and capability built before scale rather than alongside it.

Equity House was founded because we see consolidation happening across the market for good reasons and there are significant commercial opportunities from operating as a larger, well invested wealth manager. We acquire successful founders who have all done a fantastic job building their businesses and, alongside them, we build a new, larger wealth manager, drawing on our collective years of experience.