[00:00 – 00:13]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
Welcome to Beyond the Deal. I’m Nicola, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Gain.

Today I’m joined by Peder Prahl. He is the Founder and CEO of Triton.

Peder founded Triton in 1997 and, over almost three decades, has been building one of Europe’s most distinct buyout firms, focusing on industrials, tech, business services, and healthcare.

[00:13 – 01:06]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
Peder, you actually started investing when you were only 15 years old. What brought you into the world of investing?

Peder Prahl:
What’s fascinating, I think like you, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was very young, since I was 12 years old, or actually nine years old.

My parents had a very small shoe company, and they made me and my brother pack shoes. I figured out that instead of just packing the shoes, I could also sell some of the rejects.

I actually made quite a bit of money from that. Then I had to figure out what I was going to do with that money, so I started investing it.

From 15 years old, I fell in love with the challenge, the opportunities, the gains, but also the risks that come with investing.

Nicola Ebmeyer:

I love the story, it’s so hands-on. And you didn’t stop there, right? You went on to found Triton.

Market Evolution: Private Equity Then vs Now

[01:06 – 02:14]
Nicola Ebmeyer:

I’m very curious to hear what has changed over the years.

Peder Prahl:
Many things. I think one of the main things is that those of us who were fortunate or insightful enough to get into what we today call alternatives, or private equity, very early, which I did in 1998 in New York, saw a very different market.

In the early days, this was really for entrepreneurs and investors, and there were very few of us pursuing a lot of opportunities.

Now there are many pursuing probably the same number, or perhaps a slightly growing number, of opportunities.

So the supply-demand function has changed materially, which means that you have to become much better at what you do than we needed to be in the early days.

Investment Strategy & Differentiation

[02:14 – 03:01]

Nicola Ebmeyer:
Triton is one of Europe’s most successful buyout firms. How do you differentiate across the investment cycle? And starting during origination, how do you build conviction around an asset?

Peder Prahl:
Our job is to deliver sustainable, good returns across any cycle.

Our way is to think about buying well and then improving the companies that we invest in.

From a Triton perspective, we see ourselves as entrepreneurs, as business builders, and as investors.

The combination of those three is what has led us to remain investors, as opposed to becoming asset managers.

Value Creation: Building Better Businesses

[03:01 – 04:13]
Peder Prahl:
With current market multiples being down, or at least we don’t see automatic multiple uplift anymore, value creation has become more important.

Nicola Ebmeyer:
You talk about building better businesses, what are you actually doing when holding on to your assets?

Peder Prahl:
The way we think about it is, first of all, you need to think very carefully about what you buy — what you invest in.

Then, of course, it’s all about the people. It’s about the people at Triton, but also about the teams you work with.

Another thing you learn over decades is the importance of having a framework, an investment strategy and approach, and then sticking to it with discipline.

I think where we’ve been quite good is not getting caught up when multiples ran very high.

And coming back to people, you need alignment, between investors, CEOs, and management teams running the businesses.

Exits: Navigating Today’s Market

[04:13 – 05:30]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
Historically, holding periods were four to six years, and then assets were sold to another sponsor or a strategic buyer.

Now we see a record number of assets ready for exit, but the market is not fully open. How do you deal with that?

Peder Prahl:
From a market perspective, M&A markets are fully functional, and debt markets are very helpful.

The reason things are not being sold is that owners want a higher price than buyers are willing to pay.

That’s a reflection of the past, when prices were maybe twice as high as they would be in a normal cycle.

As a result, people are stuck because they cannot sell at the prices they would like.

From a Triton perspective, we’ve been able to sell businesses because we’ve improved them, but also because we didn’t pay that much for them in the first place.

Going forward, it will take quite a number of years for this to work out of the system.

Nicola Ebmeyer:
It sounds like your discipline during the “free money” era is giving you some leeway now.

Peder Prahl:
Yes, and to be very clear, we also made mistakes. But perhaps fewer than others because we felt prices were high.

For example, one of our flagship funds, Triton V, was invested over six years, from 2018 to 2023, while many others deployed multiple funds in that period.

We all make mistakes, and one of the core aspects of being an investor is learning from them, as much as from successes.

Nicola Ebmeyer:
Absolutely, that’s how we grow.

Fundraising & LP Trust

[05:30 – 06:53]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
The last few years have been challenging for fundraising, but Triton successfully raised €5.5 billion. How did you build that trust with LPs?

Peder Prahl:

We delivered on the returns we set out to achieve, not only in recent funds but across prior funds. That builds trust.

Secondly, we showed that those returns are realizable, that they can actually be achieved through exits.

And then there’s the human interaction element, which always matters.

Sector Strategy: Industrials vs Software

[06:53 – 08:21]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
Triton has always been strong in industrials and tech. Has that been an advantage, especially now with the narrative that “AI eats software”?

Peder Prahl:
At the time of fundraising, being focused on industrials was not necessarily seen as a positive.

There was a strong bias toward the U.S. and software.

But if you look at the last six months, that has likely shifted, and it may now be seen as an advantage.

That said, there is room for software, AI, industrials, services, even consumer goods.

What matters most is being very good at what you do, rather than being narrowly specialised.

Investing for the Future

[08:21 – 09:30]
Peder Prahl:
One of our values at Triton is to be future-oriented.

A number of industrial and business services businesses we acquired over the last five years were not attractive at the time, but today, they are performing very well and many investors want to buy them.

As we look forward, we focus on what the future will want, not where the market is today.

You’re investing in the future, and building better businesses takes time.

So we need to invest in what others will be attracted to in three, five, or ten years.

That’s what makes private equity exciting, it’s a long-term, illiquid game.

Fundraising & Macro Environment

[09:30 – 10:43]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
How has the geopolitical environment impacted fundraising?

Peder Prahl:
You can’t control it.

Our job is to be approximately right, to understand the direction of travel, not to predict it precisely.

During our fundraising, the geopolitical environment was probably a negative. There was a strong narrative around investing only in the U.S. and in software.

Those who invested with us saw through that and had conviction that European industrials remain attractive.

Talent & Culture

[10:43 – 11:51]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
What skills are you looking for when hiring?

Peder Prahl:
There are many good people, but it’s about finding the right person for the right role at the right time.

Over time, you develop pattern recognition to assess this.

Importantly, today everyone needs to understand and use technology.

We look for people who genuinely enjoy working with technology, because people tend to do what they like, and if they love it, they do even more.

Technology & the Future of Work

[11:51 – 13:33]
Nicola Ebmeyer:

Triton has been a Gain user for over a year now, how does your team use it?

Peder Prahl:
We use Gain to understand what other firms are doing, for example, tracking acquisitions and mapping out targets.

We also use it to explore new areas, sometimes even beyond what’s currently visible, looking at second or third-order opportunities where others haven’t yet moved.

More broadly, technology now replaces a lot of manual work.

When I started in New York, I spent 80–100 hours doing modelling, prices, volumes, inflation, cost structures. Today, technology can do much of that.

That allows people to focus on what technology cannot do, interacting with people, meeting founders, and understanding their needs.

So that when the time comes, they want to partner with us.

Closing Thoughts

[13:33 – End]
Nicola Ebmeyer:
A few themes stand out, long-term thinking, sustainability, discipline, and anticipating what’s next.

Peder Prahl:
Yes.

Nicola Ebmeyer:
Thank you for your time.

Peder Prahl:
Thank you.