Haspa BGM

Frank Franzke and Rolf-Peter Stock serve as joint Managing Directors and control investment committee decisions. Both have operated the firm since its 2003 founding. Final credit approval also involves Haspa executive board oversight, given the firm's full ownership by the parent Sparkasse.

Deal origination runs primarily through Hamburger Sparkasse's corporate banking network, which serves over 80,000 business clients in the Hamburg metropolitan region. Local relationship managers identify succession situations and strategic repositioning opportunities, referring them internally to Franzke's team. This captive origination channel is the firm's structural advantage — independent GPs cannot replicate it.

Haspa BGM does not fundraise from external limited partners. All commitments come from Hamburger Sparkasse's balance sheet and affiliated pension trusts. This capital structure permits indefinite hold periods and eliminates fund-life constraints, a feature the firm leverages in succession situations where generational handovers take years to complete.

The firm executes classic Mittelstand private equity structures: majority buyouts, minority recapitalizations, management buy-ins, and buy-and-build platforms. Deal sizes cluster between €2 million and €15 million in equity, targeting companies with €5 million to €50 million in revenue. Mezzanine instruments and vendor notes frequently supplement equity checks.

The investment mandate covers northern Germany, with concentration in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Lower Saxony. Occasional investments extend into Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bremen. The firm deliberately avoids southern Germany and does not invest outside the DACH region.

Neither — it operates as a captive corporate private equity division fully owned by a German savings bank. The legal structure is a GmbH subsidiary of Hamburger Sparkasse. This positions it outside both the independent GP model and the family office universe, with governance that follows Sparkasse regulatory frameworks rather than limited partnership agreements.

The firm pursues trade sales to strategic buyers and secondary buyouts to other financial sponsors. Because it invests permanent capital rather than fund-cycle capital, it can time exits around company readiness rather than fund-life deadlines. Holding periods have historically ranged from four to nine years, though the structure permits longer durations when succession transitions require patience.