Hein Bronk resigns as CEO of publishing company MYbusinessmedia

After more than eight years of commitment to the multimedia B2B publishing company MYbusinessmedia, Hein Bronk has decided to step down as CEO

As a Founding Father, Hein Bronk, together with informal investor Berk Partners, started MYbusinessmedia in 2007. Through acquisitions of former Wolters Kluwer and VNU brands such as Schuttevaer, Vraag & Supply, Textilia and Schoenvisie, and further through the acquisition of Media Business Press, Bronk steadily expanded the company further. Strong brands, linked to online initiatives, events and internet marketing services brought the company to the position of fourth B2B publisher in the Netherlands with offices in Deventer and Capelle a / d IJssel.

The daily management of MYbusinessmedia is now taken over by Joachim Driessen as managing director and Pascal van Sluijs as managing director.

Bronk: “As a shareholder and investor, I stay involved with MYbusinessmedia, but more remotely. I found it after 8 years managing time to pass on the entrepreneurial stick. It is a company with really a lot op opportunities for employees with many energetic people and brands that I am proud of”.

PBS
Market leader in raised floors

PBS has more than 40 years of experience in the field of raised floors in the Netherlands (also called computer floors, assembly floors or installation floors). PBS is active in 6 market segments: offices, data centers, cleanrooms, technical areas, wet areas and grandstand floors. PBS supplies wooden floors, calcium sulphate floors and aluminum floors. The latter are mainly used in high-tech cleanrooms, a fast-growing market in which PBS is well represented.

Royal Taste Company
A specialist in the composition, roasting, packaging and distribution of personalized coffee blends

Royal Taste Company focuses on the composition, roasting, packaging and distribution of personalized coffee blends. The services go beyond the blending of coffee, Royal Taste creates and delivers the complete coffee experience according to the customer’s wishes. The blend, certificates, by-products, packaging, appearance and market strategy play an important role here.

HSU
A specialist in the preparation and cleaning of public transport equipment and in specialist cleaning such as graffiti removal, road surface cleaning and façade cleaning

HSU is the specialist in the field of relieving public transport operators with an extensive experienced network of cleaners. The buses are refuelled, cleaned and shunted outside of the timetable. This enables the public transport operator to guarantee clean and punctual buses. If necessary, the buses and trains are also cleaned during the timetable. For HSU, this high-quality service has resulted in long-term partnerships with various public transport operators throughout the Netherlands.

Technotape
An international supplier of products for high-quality printing (sublimation) of photos on a variety of articles

Technotape specializes in everything related to personalized sublimation. Sublimation is the technique that makes it possible to make photo-realistic prints. The goods that the company offers include: products on which the printing (sublimation) takes place (such as mugs, puzzles and phone cases), but also printing equipment and printing supplies.

Technotape is the specialist in the field of unburdening (online) shops with individualized products for private (end)customers and knows how to distinguish itself as a supplier through quality, reliability and a broad product range. Technotape sells its products worldwide. Customers include photo processing companies, online retailers that sell personalized products and distributors with a high volume.

Berk Partners Remuneration Policy

Berk Partners has a remuneration policy based on the Remuneration Policy for Wet beloningsbeleid financiële ondernemingen as included in Book 1 Wft Chapter 1.7. This applies to all employees of Berk Partners. The remuneration policy is aimed at ensuring that employee rewards do not pose undesirable risks or behavior towards direct or indirect stakeholders or the solidity / continuity of Berk Partners.

The remuneration policy has been determined by the management. The remuneration policy is reviewed annually to determine whether the policy meets the requirements of the Board of Directors, applicable laws and regulations and the interests of (in)direct stakeholders. It is examined whether all forms of remuneration could stimulate undesirable behavior and how the remuneration policy provides for appropriate control measures. If necessary, the assessment can be performed more often.

The remuneration policy is consistent with the integration of sustainability risks. Variable remuneration of each person working under the responsibility of Berk Partners is based on criteria that include, amongst others, how the individual person demonstrated that they acted in the best interest of Berk Partners and the Investors, including compliance with Berk Partners’ policies and procedures. This encompasses relevant investment selection and risk management policies and processes of Berk Partners, which may integrate relevant sustainability risks.

Berk Partners pays all employees a fixed monthly remuneration which is not dependent on goals or performance. Berk Partners can pay discretionary variable remuneration, which is remuneration that is linked to the achievement of criteria in relation to the performance of the employee, but also the financial soundness of Berk Partners. The ratio between fixed and variable remuneration is appropriate and can never exceed 20% of the fixed income. Berk Partners does not work with guaranteed variable remuneration and bonuses awarded do not set a precedent for any subsequent years.

For variable remuneration, performance indicators are determined on the basis of an assessment of whether the remuneration will result in risk-seeking behavior and the measures to prevent this. The award of variable remuneration is at the discretion of the board of management and is usually only awarded in the event of a positive assessment based on, among other things, the performance indicators and if Berk Partners’ financial situation permits.

Responsible Investment Policy

Introduction

Berk Partners private equity (Berk Partners) is an independent investment company that assists companies and entrepreneurs in realizing their growth ambitions. With financial input and industry and market knowledge, Berk Partners enables the companies it invests in to accelerate their growth both organically and through acquisitions. Berk Partners actively supports its participating interests in financial, strategic and operational areas.

Berk Partners supports the Paris Agreement and is a signatory of the internationally recognized Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and demonstrates its commitment to responsible investments in this responsible investment policy (the Policy) and in actions. The PRI is an international network of investors working together to put principles for responsible investment into practice, supported by the United Nations.

At Berk Partners, we strongly believe that investing is more than traditional subjects such as finance and efficiency. In our view, responsible investing addresses the integration of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) practices into the investment management process. Management of ESG factors is an important driver for strong investment performance and business success and can have a positive impact on the performance of Berk Partners’ portfolio companies to the benefit of all stakeholders.

Berk Partners aims to “create a more sustainable company at exit”. To accomplish this ambition, Berk Partners will integrate ESG activities in every step of its investment process and in its ownership practices. We therefore incorporate ESG issues into our investment analysis and decision-making processes and encourage our investees to come up with action plans to address material ESG issues.

This policy describes what Berk Partners expects from its investees and what can be expected from Berk Partners as an investor.

Six Principles for Responsible Investment

By annually reporting on its responsible investment activities to the PRI, Berk Partners strives to continually improve its decisions in regard to economic, environmental, social and governance aspects in its investment process. Being compliant with the PRI’s six principles helps Berk Partners to contribute to a better world by guiding companies to create more value for themselves, its stakeholders and its shareholders. As signatory of the PRI we are committed to the following six principles:

Berk Partners will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
Berk Partners will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.
Berk Partners will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.
Berk Partners will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
Berk Partners will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
Berk Partners will report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.

ESG

Berk Partners considers the environment, social issues, and governance (ESG) in its investment activities as follows:

Environment: Berk Partners encourages company managers to regard material environmental issues in their decision making and operational activities. Managers are motivated to:

Make efficient use of resources, such as electricity, water, waste, fuel
Limit emissions (e.g. air, waste, water, and noise emissions)
Ensure a responsible handling of waste
Safeguard for an environmentally responsible supply chain
Take into account the development of relevant environmental issues.

Social: Berk Partners aims to guarantee a working environment with respect to all its stakeholders. Berk Partners enters into dialogue with portfolio companies to encourage them to consider material social issues in their decision making and operational activities. As such, the management of our portfolio companies will be motivated to think of:

Ensuring a healthy working environment where employees feel safe and happy, and where they feel valued
Striving to eliminating discrimination in respect to employment, child labour, and all forms of forced labour, throughout the entire supply chain of the company
Stimulating gender diversity within the board of directors and the company as a whole, as well as conducting a management team assessment
Considering employee working conditions such as minimum wages, working hours and health & safety of the work force
Stimulating creativity and innovation
Supporting the elimination of forced and child labour, including the possible use of forced and child labour by the suppliers of portfolio companies
Avoiding discrimination (e.g. based on age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability)
Supporting sustainable employment
Stimulating social cohesion
Complying with international conventions of human rights.

Governance: Berk Partners pursues to be compliant with the highest ethical standards. Hence, we ask our portfolio companies to implement governance practices in its business. Berk Partners aims to promote sound ethical practices and prevent corruption in the companies that it owns, including:

Avoiding corruption and unethical business practices
Promoting sound business ethics
Promoting transparency and accountability
Creating awareness and promoting compliance with relevant laws and regulations
Stimulating the necessary checks & balances within an organization

Sector Exclusion

Berk Partners will not invest in companies that engage in or are related to illegal economic activities. Additionally, Berk Partners has excluded sectors that do not contribute positively or are even harmful to society. Thus, Berk Partners will not invest in companies that are engaged in the following businesses:

The production, distribution, marketing or trade in tobacco or tobacco products
The production, marketing or use of, or trade in, (key components of) weapons of mass destruction, dedicated weapon platforms, munitions, military and paramilitary services, or inhuman weapons or technologies which are subject to existing international prohibitions, such as: anti-personnel mines and cluster weapons.
The ownership, operation, marketing or management of gambling facilities and/or the development or processing of gambling.
The production, distribution, hosting or marketing of material or activities relating to pornography.

Berk Partners will comply with all anti-money laundering and terrorism financing standards as required by applicable law.

Reporting

For each portfolio company, the CEO and a Berk Partners Board Member will be responsible for the overall ESG policy. This will increase the awareness of ESG-related risks and opportunities at Board level.

On a regular basis, all Board Members responsible for ESG of all portfolio companies will be present at an internal ESG meeting to discuss the current status of ESG implementation, progress made and to share best practices. Berk Partners reports annually to its investors. This report combines quantitative and qualitative information on the current status of ESG implementation, milestones achieved and targets set.

Organization and Governance

Responsible investing is an ongoing process and we will continuously aim to enhance our effectiveness in implementing this Policy and beliefs set out herein. Berk Partners will promote acceptance and implementation of the principles within the investment industry.

This Policy is an important document in supporting all Berk Partners team members (both partners and employees) to make sure we perform our investment activities in line with principles for responsible investment. We believe that responsible investment and the implementation of this Policy is a responsibility for everybody within our organization. Hence, all members are aware of the content of this Policy to ensure that they work in accordance with our principles and know what is expected from them with regard to executing their work in accordance with this Policy.

SFDR (2019/2088) related disclosures

Risks attached to sustainability

Berk Partners considers Sustainability Risk as an environmental, social or governance event or condition that, if it occurs, could cause an actual or potential material negative impact on the value of the investment.

Before any investment decisions are made on behalf of Berk Partners Growth Fund-II, Berk Partners completes a process that aims at identifying the material risks associated with each proposed investment; these will include relevant sustainability risks. Berk Partners aims to assess the identified risks alongside other relevant factors in its due diligence. The investment committee of Berk Partners resolves upon investment decisions taking into consideration the assessment of the identified risks. It is the intention that throughout the entire process, relevant sustainability risks are identified and assessed using the same process as is applied to other relevant risks affecting the fund and investments made on its behalf.
Berk Partners generally considers, among other things, the following Sustainability Risks: negative sector risks, health care risks, natural disasters, scarcity of raw materials and water, unethical sourcing and labour practices, CO₂ and climate risks. Berk Partners assesses that the potential impact on the return on investment of these Sustainability Risks is medium to low; this is assessed based on the likelihood in relation to the potential impact of this risk.

Consideration of Principle Adverse Impacts

In accordance with Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, Berk Partners states that it currently does not consider adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors in connection with all their products and services, as defined under and in accordance with the SFDR and therefore does not make the disclosures as described in the Disclosure Regulation. Given the reach of the organization of Berk Partners, such disclosure and its accompanying administrative burden would not be proportional nor practical considering the limited amount of data. Therefore, Berk Partners cannot guarantee the completeness and quality of the information to comply with the technical standards.
In practice, depending on the investment strategy and product, Berk Partners considers a relevant sub-set of the “sustainability factors” listed in the SFDR, including environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and/or anti-bribery matters by means of its policy on integration of environmental, social and governance risks and value creation opportunities into its investment process. Berk Partners will reconsider disclosing adverse impacts of its investment decisions on sustainability factors at entity level when data quality and availability in relation to its portfolio are at a level required to comply in full. Berk Partners will periodically evaluate and reconsider this position.

Berk Partners Remuneration Policy

Internship Private Equity

Berk Partners continuously has internships available.

About Berk Partners

Berk Partners is an independent investment company that assists companies and entrepreneurs in realizing their growth ambitions. With financial input and industry and market knowledge, Berk Partners enables its associates to accelerate their growth both organically and through acquisitions. Berk Partners actively supports its participating interests in the financial, strategic and operational areas.

Berk Partners strives for an active partnership with entrepreneurs and management teams. We are sparring partner in formulating and reviewing the corporate strategy, open our network to find the right people and bring knowledge and experience in acquisitions and (re) financing. At the operational level, we support our participations with, among other things, the improvement of business processes.

What does an internship at Berk Partners entail?

As an intern at Berk Partners you offer support to the investment team in all aspects of the investment cycle. Activities include market studies, evaluation of investment proposals, deal execution and support with the implementation of projects at our portfolio companies. The emphasis will be on analysis of markets, sectors, companies and the preparation and analysis of investment proposals, whereby financial analysis and valuation are essential elements.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for entrepreneurial trainees, with a proactive, responsible attitude.

An ideal intern meets the following profile:
Has a bachelor’s degree in business administration, (business) economic, financial, technical or related field of study
Has a good command of the Dutch language in speech and writing
Is analytically, numerically and commercially strong
Likes to tackle and attracts work to himself
Is able to work independently and to request guidance when needed
Is available full time (40 hours per week) for a consecutive period of 4 to 6 months
Do you want to work at investment company Berk Partners? Then contact us via the contact form.

Aarts Packaging
Innovative solutions and high-tech production lines for plastic packaging in cosmetics, food and pharma

Aarts Packaging is a leading specialist in the field of complex, high-end plastic packaging and serves many large and small customers at home and abroad. It focuses primarily on projects in the cosmetics industry, but also has clients in the food and non-food industries. As a packaging producer, Aarts is responsible for the environment, in line with the ESG objectives of Berk Partners. The company therefore follows the development of sustainable, degradable and recycled materials closely and will – where possible and desired – apply these products and present the various options to customers.

Molenmaker Techniek
Design en production of hydraulic systems, in particular for civil engineering

Molenmaker Techniek was founded in 2005 by Otbert Molenmaker and grew into a leading company in its market in 15 years. The company focuses on designing, creating and maintaining hydraulic systems in the broadest sense of the word. This includes bridge and lock controls, special cylinders, aggregates and ship’s hydraulics. In addition, Molenmaker Techniek designs and produces machines for production automation. Systems are supplied with or without electrical controls at the customer’s request.
Divested in 2021.

Theunisse Kokosbrood
Producer of coconut products to spread on bread, to go with meals or as a snack.

Theha Kokosbrood is specialist in creamy coconut products to spread on bread, to prepare meals with, or to eat as a snack. Here the toppings of coconut bread are prepared. Who didn’t grow up with it? A quick sandwich in the nicest colors and tastes, without crumbling! Available in various variants, including high-fiber, gluten-free, vegan, organic and kosher. All prepared with the tastiest coconut from Southeast Asia. Theha also produces different varieties of tasteful, soft coconut cubes that are successfully sold as a snack and are used, among other things, as an ingredient for nut mixes and granolas and as a decoration for cakes and pies. At the modern production site in Harderwijk, the preparation processes are carried out in a food-safe, efficient and largely traditional manner to provide optimum taste and smoothness to the products.

Rivièra Product Decorations
Application of shrink-wrap labels, sleeves, in particular plastic and glass packaging

Since its foundation in 2002, Rivièra has developed into the major sleeve specialist in Europe and serves many large and small customers at home and abroad. Rivièra focuses primarily on projects in the cosmetics and beverages industry, but also has customers in the food and non-food industries. A sleeve provides more design space and possibilities to combine different target groups and possibly language variants than a label. A sleeve takes the shape of the package completely, where alternatives such as direct printing on the package and labeling have limitations. As a packaging producer, Rivièra bears responsibility for the environment, in line with the ESG objectives of Berk Partners.

Hein Bronk resigns as CEO of publishing company MYbusinessmedia

PBS Market leader in raised floors

Royal Taste Company A specialist in the composition, roasting, packaging and distribution of personalized coffee blends

HSU A specialist in the preparation and cleaning of public transport equipment and in specialist cleaning such as graffiti removal, road surface cleaning and façade cleaning

Technotape An international supplier of products for high-quality printing (sublimation) of photos on a variety of articles