Buyout Diary
Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Notes
Archive
About
Latest
Top
Discussions
What I Have Learned from a Year of Conversations with European Searchers
The community has been saying things the data does not capture. Here is what I have been hearing.
Jun 29
•
Alexander Kelm
1
Why LOIs break even when diligence is clean
Most LOIs do not break on a single number. They break on confidence eroding across four dimensions at once.
Jun 22
•
Alexander Kelm
1
Ten months in, my thesis has changed. Here is what moved.
Four dimensions that shifted. Two that did not. And a method to audit yours this weekend.
Jun 15
•
Alexander Kelm
1
The cuts you have to make to run a part-time search.
The honest math nobody publishes: a search needs hours you do not have, so something has to go.
Jun 8
•
Alexander Kelm
3
There is no front door. Here is how I built one anyway.
Three small moves that compound, and the one mistake most searchers make in their first six months.
Jun 1
•
Alexander Kelm
5
1
May 2026
Nine months in. Two deals broke. Here is everything I learned.
Everything I got wrong, everything I would keep, and what is coming next.
May 25
•
Alexander Kelm
7
Stanford’s 2026 Search Fund Primer is out. Three domains where it stops working for Europe.
Investor base, deal structures, operating environment. A structural comparison no one has published systematically anywhere.
May 18
•
Alexander Kelm
7
1
Why even Bernard Arnault could not turn Tiffany around fast enough
Two record years. Then market share losses to Cartier. The honest version of the $15.8 billion integration.
May 4
•
Alexander Kelm
4
1
April 2026
Why financial engineering alone will not generate the returns you need
Operations, tech stack, and finance function. The three durable levers most buyers underuse.
Apr 27
•
Alexander Kelm
4
1
2
LVMH tried to kill the Tiffany deal. Then closed it for $425 million less.
Inside the biggest legal dispute in luxury history and the $425M lesson at the end.
Apr 20
•
Alexander Kelm
3
1
How to close your first European acquisition when the equity gap is real
Bank debt, seller financing, subsidies, and a capital partner — how the full stack fits together
Apr 13
•
Alexander Kelm
3
1
How Arnault integrated BVLGARI without destroying what made it valuable
The post-acquisition playbook most buyers never build
Apr 6
•
Alexander Kelm
2
1
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts
