Ufenau Capital Partners

Managing partners Ralf Flore and Thomas Bühler lead the firm's investment committee. Both are co-founders and oversee all transaction activity from the Pfäffikon headquarters, with support from the Frankfurt and Munich offices. The firm's investment decisions are concentrated at the partner level, consistent with the small-team, MBI-intensive model Ufenau operates.

The firm relies primarily on the founders' personal networks across the DACH region, targeting succession-driven situations that are not widely auctioned. Ufenau's focus on founder-owned businesses navigating generational transitions means many transactions originate through direct introductions from tax advisors, corporate lawyers, and regional intermediaries before reaching a broader market process. The structured MBI model further narrows the competitive set, as many PE firms do not recruit external management teams pre-close.

Ufenau operates both primary fund vehicles and a parallel co-investment structure. However, it does not act as a fund-of-funds or an LP in other PE firms. All capital is deployed into direct platform investments with active operational involvement, either through principal funds or side-by-side co-investment vehicles designed for large individual institutional partners.

The firm targets buyouts, growth equity, management buy-ins (MBIs), and management buyouts (MBOs), predominantly in the DACH region. Its core deal parameter is an enterprise value between EUR 30 million and EUR 250 million, with an equity check typically ranging from EUR 50 million to EUR 200 million. Ufenau avoids early-stage venture and publicly listed minority investments.

Ufenau recruits external CEO candidates and management teams for target companies before an acquisition closes, rather than relying solely on incumbent executives. This MBI-centric posture means the firm operates partially as a human-capital intermediary, identifying, vetting, and placing professional managers into the businesses it acquires. This model is designed for succession situations where no internal successor is available, a common scenario in DACH family enterprises.