Martin Herrmann and Marco Moser founded Tempus Capital in Frankfurt in 2008. They had spent the previous decade working with the German Mittelstand and had drawn the same conclusion repeatedly: family-owned and partner-run companies were better off with investors who came in alongside management, stayed longer than a typical fund cycle, and did not have to ask a committee for permission.
That is why Tempus Capital has stayed partner-owned. We answer to ourselves, not to outside limited partners. The discipline that brings, and the discipline it costs, is part of how the firm has worked since the start.
We invest our own money. We live with the consequences. There are no fund deadlines and no quarterly reporting cycle.
We understand businesses because we work in them. On the supervisory board, in the strategy room, in the operating reviews.
The typical hold is four to seven years; longer where the company needs it. We sell when it makes sense for the business, not when a fund needs to return capital to its investors.
Confidentiality is a precondition of the work. Anything said publicly about a portfolio company is said by the company, not by us.
Commitments to sellers, employees, banks and advisers are kept.
Tempus Capital founded in Frankfurt by Martin Herrmann and Marco Moser.
Ownership structure consolidated; partnership agreement revised.
PostCon National GmbH and mailworXs GmbH bought from Quantum Capital Partners. PostCon National was one of Germany's largest private postal operators at the time.
Bolt-on acquisition of PostCon NRW. PostCon National rebranded to DVS — Deutscher Versand Service. Exit from Xendis Versandlogistik.
Today, partner-owned and active across Germany, Austria and Switzerland with long-standing co-investors.
Martin Herrmann co-founded Tempus Capital in 2008. Before that he worked at Goldman Sachs, UBS Warburg, Alvarez & Marsal and PwC. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and angel-invests on the side.
Deal origination, transaction structuring, international investor relationships, supervisory board work
Marco Moser co-founded Tempus Capital in 2008. He spent the years before that at Fortress Investment Group, the GSC Group and Merrill Lynch, working on private equity, distressed debt and special situations in the German-speaking region.
Deal sourcing, negotiation, structuring of special situations, operational involvement