Introducing: Buysse & Partners is – as they call it – an investment boutique. On behalf of family investors and entrepreneurs, they search and select interesting growth companies, as well as follow up on them: not just the numbers, but operational objectives as well.
Those who invest their pennies want to know whether it will pay off – makes sense. With the help of BrightAnalytics, Buysse & Partners keeps its investors informed of the day-to-day business, including quarterly figures. “As an investment group, we are more than just external lenders. We want to be involved within the companies and also encourage our own investors to think along with us. Together, we form a sounding board for the board of directors and the management,” says Johan Buyle of Buysse & Partners. They enthuse the investors by giving tours of the companies, but also by consistently making all the figures available.
“With the online platform, we monitor several companies every day, without having to open hundreds of systems, request information or export error-prone Excel tables. Moreover, we can compare companies or business units”, explains Laurens Willems. As an investment manager, using the software saves him a lot of hours. “Besides saving work, it’s also just a lot more active and interesting. Boring administrative numbers come to life.”
The combined figures and data are the basis for Laurens, Johan and their investors to start discussions, or to coach where necessary. “Access to objective, recent and accurate figures makes a company transparent. Without these figures you discuss things based on your gut feeling. Now, we do that with the bare figures as our guide. And even if everyone interprets them from their own point of view – that’s the fun of investing – it is the best basis on which to continue building.”
To spread the investment risk, Buysse & Partners participates in different sectors and companies, both in Belgium and in South America. Each employee of Buysse & Partners puts their own capital into each investment. “Thus, we are not only emotionally, but also financially involved. We, ourselves, have every interest in ensuring that all processes of the invested companies run as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible.” It is no coincidence that within the companies in which Buysse & Partners is a shareholder, effective invoice prices are compared with the original calculations. “By linking the data, you can quickly detect, analyze and optimize anomalies.”