TPW: What are Heras’ main products, solutions and skills?
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ER: What you can see is our fences and gates everywhere – on streets or around hospitals and airports in many European cities. And we were inside the Olympic Games in Paris.
What you can’t see is that we don’t just manufacture fences; we provide everything from project installation to long-term service.
On the one hand, we have permanent solutions for high-security zones like prisons. Then we have mobile events – like big concerts – that need to be equally secure but are there for short periods. We operate in more than 24 countries thanks to a workforce of over 1,000 skilled experts.
TPW: As CEO of Heras, what have been your priorities?
ER: To bring the whole Heras organisation closer to our customers and markets has been my priority. It’s part of Heras’ DNA to feel that we are serving communities.
Another priority has been to work on our cost competitiveness. We have our own production facilities, but we are not in low-cost countries. So, we’ve mostly automated our large sites; they’re state-of-the-art from a manufacturing viewpoint.
TPW: How do you build resilience?
ER: Our trajectory has continuously become less dependent on construction, so that we continue to grow at every point of the business cycle. We’ve also changed our focus so it’s more solutions-oriented – and introduced servicing and high security into the mix. We have an end-to-end approach – from designing and creating bespoke perimeter solutions to installing the protection and access control. Our competitors tend to have only the manufacturing, or the installation ability, not both.
TPW: To what do you owe your success in recent years?
ER: Clearly, the overall context in Europe makes security a more critical need for societies. Our customer base has changed significantly. We’ve been well positioned to meet that changing market environment.
TPW: What are your growth ambitions?
ER: We have a lot of room to grow within our current geographic footprint. The Netherlands is probably the most mature of our markets, where we operate 24/7 support teams. We have massive room to grow by leveraging our current footprint. As an example, we recently acquired a high-security business in Germany (BA-KRO), which provides market coverage both in terms of high security projects and service contracts.
TPW: How do you have such a flexible, quick-reacting supply chain?
ER: We have a well-organised and comprehensive manufacturing footprint. We own two production plants in Belgium and France, and we also have a key partner in the Czech Republic for our mobile solutions. And on the permanent side, we have a plant near Eindhoven in the Netherlands and one in Alsace, eastern France.
TPW: How do you keep your employees engaged and enthused?
ER: We refer to ‘Heras’ DNA’, which means a high sense of loyalty and pride for our products. We have a lot of employees who’ve been working with Heras for a long time. We’ve developed a strong culture in every country we operate in. We are focusing on our winning combination of product, people, and expertise.
TPW: Onto your partnership with Equistone – how has it been fruitful?
ER: Our relationship is built on trust and transparency. It’s remarkable how much industry knowledge the Equistone team has been able to provide. Hubert van Wolfswinkel (partner, Amsterdam & Munich) and Moritz Treude (director, Munich) have been instrumental in helping our team to take a step back and see things differently – thanks to their insights and fresh perspectives. For example, in construction or in installation and service – they know how other companies operate in Europe. Are we seeing the full picture? Have we got the right handle on the market? These challenges have been valuable as we make important investment decisions. Every member of the ExCo team has benefited from Equistone’s advice. And of all the private equity environments I’ve worked in, this one has been the most growth-focused.
It’s remarkable how much industry knowledge the Equistone team has been able to provide.
TPW: Do you get to network and share knowledge with Equistone’s other portfolio companies?
ER: There is one formal meeting a year, which is social and convivial. This is when my CFO and I can meet other senior leaders from Equistone’s portfolio companies. There are also day-to-day business connections. For example, we supply to BUKO – a traffic and safety management solutions provider. We also went into a commercial partnership with Gardengate in 2023, a designer and manufacturer of aluminium garden gates and doors. What all Equistone’s portfolio companies have in common is strong entrepreneurial drive and a complete sense of ownership. ☐
// Equistone announced a conditional agreement to sell its Fund VI investment in Heras to Garda Group on 18 July 2024.
A full version of this article appeared in PLATFORM 11, Summer 2024