TIP713: WHY SERIAL ACQUIRERS OUTPERFORM

W/ NIKLAS SÄVÅS

10 April 2025

On today’s episode, Clay is joined by Niklas Sävås to discuss the business model of serial acquirers.

A serial acquirer is a company that grows primarily by repeatedly acquiring other businesses as a core part of its strategy. Over the past two decades, many serial acquirers have proven to be profitable investments in the stock market including Constellation Software and Lifco AB. In this episode, Clay and Niklas break down the most important factors to understanding the business model as investors.

Niklas Sävås is a senior equity analyst at Redeye AB where he does extensive research on serial acquirers in the Nordics.

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • What a serial acquirer is and why serial acquirers are able to buck conventional thinking on making acquisitions.
  • What the return profile is for serial acquirers in making private acquisitions.
  • Best practices used by successful serial acquirers.
  • Why it’s important to be the buyer of choice as a serial acquirer.
  • The most common challenges that serial acquirers face.
  • The importance of organic growth for serial acquirers.
  • An overview of the Roko IPO.
  • And so much more!

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:00] Clay Finck: On today’s episode, I’m joined by Niklas Sävås to discuss the business model of serial acquirers. Niklas is a senior equity analyst at Redeye AB, where he does extensive research on serial acquirers in the Nordics. A serial acquirer is a company that grows primarily by repeatedly acquiring other businesses as a core part of its strategy.

[00:00:20] Clay Finck: Over the past two decades, many serial acquirers have proven to be profitable investments in the stock market. Some well-known names that our audience might know includes Berkshire Hathaway, constellation Software, Lifco and Addtech. In this episode, we break down the most important factors to understanding the business model as investors.

[00:00:38] Clay Finck: We also cover why serial acquirers are able to buck conventional thinking on making acquisitions, what the return profile is in these acquisitions best practices used by successful serial acquirers, and why it’s important to be the buyer of choice for sellers. The most common challenges that serial acquirers face, the importance of organic growth, as well as an overview of the Roko IPO, led by Fredrik Karlsson, who’s the previous CEO of Lifco, whose value increase by over 100 times under Frederick’s leadership.

[00:01:07] Clay Finck: I find this business model very fascinating and serial acquirers play a key part in my own personal portfolio. So with that, I hope you enjoy today’s discussion with Niklas Savas.

[00:01:21] Intro: Since 2014, and through more than 180 million downloads, we’ve studied the financial markets and read the books that influenced self-made billionaires the most. We keep you informed and prepared for the unexpected. Now for your host, Clay Finck.

[00:01:45] Clay Finck: Welcome to The Investor’s Podcast. I’m your host, Clay Fink, and today I am happy to welcome Niklas Savas to the show. Niklas, it’s great to chat with you here.

[00:01:53] Niklas Sävås: Pleasure to be here, Clay.

[00:01:55] Clay Finck: So for the past couple of years, I’ve been interested in the business model of serial acquirers and I have a few of them in my portfolio and they’ve treated me well so far.

[00:02:04] Clay Finck: And in speaking with other investors, I see a lot of varying opinions on serial acquirers. So I thought it’d be fun to bring you onto the show to discuss the business model. Since you primarily focus on this space and know the model quite well, REQ Capital, they also put out this great report on serial acquirers that shared that through 2023, the long-term returns of acquisition compounders, both in the Nordics and globally have far exceeded the broader market.

[00:02:32] Clay Finck: So I can get that linked in the show notes for those. Interested to get us kicked off. How about we start with what is a serial acquirer and what makes a business model so attractive to some business owners?

[00:02:44] Niklas Sävås: Sure. So I mean, a serial acquirer is, as it sounds, a company that’s able to reinvest a lot of its generated cash flows to buy private companies.

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