ALT Technologies
Jean-Luc Verstraeten
After his second management buy-out, Jean-Luc Verstraeten
is finally in a position to develop ALT Technologies to its full
potential.
Between all the glitzy car dealerships in one of Utrecht's
commercial zones, several nondescript buildings are tucked
away. One of them has three company names on its façade
that will probably mean nothing to most of the people that
drive past. Yet Avery Dennison, the name on top, is a US For-
tune 500 company. The bottom name belongs to ALT Technol-
ogies; newly independent, but long a daughter of the Sentega
Group, the name in the middle. As both these companies to-
gether were carved out of Avery Dennison during a manage-
ment buy-out in 2002, the three names read like a family tree.
The three company names also read like the resume of Jean-
Luc Verstraeten, managing director of ALT. The Belgian en-
gineer started his career at Avery Dennison, participated in
the 2002 buy-out lead by Sentega and completed another
buy-out in 2011. Then, together with private equity firm Stan-
dard Investment, he bought out Sentega as shareholders of
ALT. This last step has neither been easy nor cheap, accord-
ing to Verstraeten, but he considers it the price he had to
pay for his freedom. It has been well worth it. He feels he
is now, finally, in the position to realize the full potential he
has always seen in his company. Of all the cars produced in
Europe, Verstraeten estimates that 60% contain airbags with
ALT components. But there is a whole world left, waiting to
be conquered.
Psychological high-wire act
For the past few years though, Verstraeten felt that, as part
of the Sentega Group, ALT was being restricted in its growth.
"ALT was the most profitable part of the group, and I saw
many opportunities to grow further. For that of course we
needed to reinvest the cash we generated, but my co-owners
were reluctant to do so." This difference of opinion lead to
an impasse that lasted nearly two years. Verstraeten grew
increasingly frustrated as he had to let business opportunities
pass by and personal relations with his co-owners became
quite bitter. By the time in 2010 that Verstraeten finally got the
green light to start looking for new investors, circumstances
were far from ideal. "The automotive sector had been par-
ticularly hard hit during the economic crisis and did not look
very attractive to most potential investors. Moreover, any deal
would require some delicate negotiations between me and my
co-owners. It was immediately clear that I needed help from
someone who knew where to find investors and who could act
as a go-between in the negotiations."
A friend who had worked with them before recommended Hol-
land Corporate Finance. "I am not someone who easily lets go
of things, but when they started working on the business plan
with which they wanted to approach investors, they gained my
full confidence," recalls Verstraeten. "They really got to the bot-
tom of things and gained a very thorough understanding of the
markets we operate in. To this day, we are executing the exact
same plan that HCF drew up then." The process side of the
transaction became a psychological high-wire act, as emotions
ran high and needed to be managed carefully. "At some points
I got very, very angry but HCF always kept the negotiations on
track, they handled that really skillfully." Despite all the difficult
circumstances, within six months a deal was reached and Vers-
traeten could focus on ALT's future again.
Dynamic and daring
With Standard Investments, whom he describes as "dynamic
and daring", Verstraeten has found new owners with whom he
is on the same page and who are committed to ALT's growth.
Verstraeten readily describes how ALT is going to almost double
its turnover in the next four years, as the business plan says.
"We are going to grow geographically and follow our custom-
ers to Asia and South-America. We are going to expand our
portfolio with parts for knee airbags, curtain airbags, pedestrian
airbags and new types of occupant safety systems. And we are
going to enter new markets like consumer durables, where we
have a real advantage because producers like Bosch-Siemens
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