Our principles - long-term, decentralised and entrepreneurial - are the compass for the decisions we make every day, the priorities we set and the people we surround ourselves with. FORUM's employees follow these principles, and the employees in our shareholdings integrate them into the DNA of their own companies.
Long-termism, decentralization and entrepreneurial thinking have characterized our philosophy since day one. They are the principles we not only live by at Forum, but also the DNA that every employee brings to our investments.
As a family office, we have a capital base that is permanent: we do not have to turn over assets, we do not have maturities - our mandate is to grow the family's capital base in perpetuity while avoiding risk.
That's why we assume that every investment will be held permanently. In the family equity business, our holding period is de facto permanent - the last sale was in 1999. In the equities business, we dispose of investments somewhat more easily because the company is not affected by them.
Because we hold our investments for the long term, we support all plans to strengthen the companies in the long term. That's why we provide training and invest in innovations.
As a family office, we draw on a permanent capital base. We have made it our mandate to increase the family's capital base in the long term and to avoid risks in the long term.
With a view to the long term, we therefore make every investment with a view to holding it permanently. Whereas in the equities business we dispose of investments more easily, in the family equity business our holding period is permanent. The last sale took place in 1999.
As a long-term investor, our goal is to strengthen the companies in the long term and to develop them further. In this way, we ensure the succession of the company over generations.
We are convinced that decentralized management with delegation of responsibility is the best way to keep companies agile: it creates motivated employees, and they are the most important asset - even if it does not appear on the balance sheet!
Decentralization is most successful when combined with a leadership culture that gives employees clear expectations about your roles and goals.
We are convinced that agile companies are managed in a decentralized and goal-oriented manner.
Our experience shows: decentrally managed companies that also communicate clear ideas and expectations with employees have more motivated employees - your company's most important asset. Even if these do not even if it does not appear on the balance sheet.
The first two principles are rather preserving - the third principle "entrepreneurial" - describes our concern that our companies belong to the best in their industry. If necessary, we bring a lot of experience in "best practice" from many sectors to this. We expect our investments to grow at least 5 percentage points faster than the market and thus gain market share - this is an objective way for our clients to confirm that we are well positioned.
The principle of entrepreneurial thinking, is reflected in our concern that Forum participations are among the best companies in their industry.
Our expectation of the portfolio companies is that they will grow at least 5% faster than the market and thus gain market share. Thus, the customers of the investments objectively confirm us to be well positioned.
In achieving our goals, we bring our experience in "best practices" from many areas.
"We deliberately chose FORUM as HSH's strategic partner because this is the best way for us to guarantee important principles such as reliability, longevity and also our own identity as a medium-sized company and carry them into the future. Reliability and a long-term approach were significant features of our discussions with Dr Wittek"