Preferring listed equities, we keep a short list and a long horizon.

Founded and led by industry veteran Simon Azoulay, French engineering and IT consulting group Alten ttripled its earnings and revenue over the past decade. Despite its resilient business model, fortress-like balance sheet, and prolific M&A strategy, its valuation bore the full force of the severe recession that started in Europe in late 2023, falling to less than six times operating earnings. The same applied to IT services consulting Neurones—chaired and controlled by Luc de Chammard, a business figure we have long known and admired—whose shares we began buying in February 2026. Both companies have navigated downturns like this before, only to emerge stronger.

Based in the Netherlands and partially spun out from Mark Leonard’s Constellation Software, which retains oversight and a controlling stake, Topicus intends to replicate its parent holding company’s extraordinarily successful approach to M&A within the European vertical market software sector—a fragmented landscape with scores of hidden champions and less private equity money chasing acquisitions. Built from the same proven foundation and headquartered in Mississauga, Canada, Lumine Group brings this same strategic approach across multiple verticals within the media and communications industries.

In early 2026, fears that AI would hollow out professional information providers sent Wolters Kluwer—the Netherlands-based giant with dominant franchises in healthcare, tax and legal sectors—down by two thirds in twelve months, to a valuation last seen in 2009, in the thick of the subprime crisis. Déjà vu all over again: When cloud computing swept through enterprise software, shareholders feared Wolters’ franchise would evaporate. Instead, the company used the shift to accelerate profit growth and cement its standing. AI may yet prove the same gift in disguise for a business this entrenched, with returns on equity that few can rival.

National oil company Petrobras produces 2.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, with over a decade of proven reserves ahead of itself and prime offshore assets that break even below $30 a barrel. Despite nefarious government interference in the past, the company delivered an average of $22 billion in annual free cash flow between 2014 and 2024—a cycle marked by two brutal downturns and an epic corruption scandal. It has emerged on new, solid footing, with a leaner balance sheet and disciplined governance. At the time of our investment in June 2025, these fundamentals translated into a valuation of about three times cash earnings and six times distributable earnings.

© 2015-2026 Standard SAS. All rights reserved. For information regarding our Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and other legal advisories, please refer to the documents available through the main navigation menu of this website.