Atlanta companies looking to acquire the technologies of small, foreign companies are invited to access Atlanta-based Venadar LLC’s database of 15,000 entrepreneurial firms in 75 countries that are seeking to be acquired by U.S. corporations.
Venadar, a venture formed in October by Hildebrand, Hamill & Associates LLP partner and former Coca-Cola Co. executive Maddie Hamill, along with former Cendian Corp. CEO Mark Kaiser, also assists entrepreneurial start-ups to formulate an acquisition strategy.
“We essentially have a private stock of acquisition candidates in the United States, Europe and developing countries for big companies here to reposition a product or fill out their portfolio,” Mr. Kaiser said.
“Major companies can reduce the risk of launching new products by acquiring them through an entrepreneurial company that has already tested the market and by using Venadar’s experience with both big companies and entrepreneurial start-ups,” Ms. Hamill added.
Venadar concentrates primarily on firms with new consumer, media, technology and healthcare products. Mr. Kaiser and Ms. Hamill said that Venadar is especially interested in small companies in Eastern Europe and emerging European Union countries like Northern Ireland because companies in these locations traditionally have a difficult time getting the attention of U.S. firms.
They added that many U.S. companies do not think of going abroad to seek out technologies and businesses to incorporate into their operations, but Eastern Europe represents a chance for American companies to be “preemptive” in acquiring new technologies.
The E.U. has issued a policy to increase entrepreneurship among its member states and become as entrepreneurial as the United States, Ms. Hamill added. But rather than continuing to issue government grants to entrepreneurs as the E.U. had done for its original member states, there is now a desire in the new or potential E.U. countries to move to the U.S. style of seeking venture capital for start-ups rather than getting grants that must be paid back or that are tied to certain performance expectations, Mr. Kaiser explained.
“The new E.U. countries have great technologies and business concepts, but they need to get linked up to European and U.S. companies to tap into bigger markets,” said Ms. Hamill, who was born in and spent the early part of her career in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Mr. Kaiser added that there are huge opportunities to acquire Northern Ireland companies in the healthcare field, especially biotechnology.
Both Mr. Kaiser and Ms. Hamill recently traveled to Northern Ireland with the Society of International Business Fellows, an organization of business leaders headquartered in Atlanta, where they saw 30 investor presentations by entrepreneurial companies interested in selling their businesses to corporate investors.
Venadar’s ideal client is a $200 million – $1.5 billion company looking to acquire smaller firms to re-brand their products or technologies. However, Venadar also assists smaller firms to license their technologies and formulate an exit strategy, as well as linking them with venture or private equity sources to finance their plans.
Contact Ms. Hamill or Mr. Kaiser at (404) 233-2664 or visit www.venadar.com for more information.