A research project during Jesse Mostert’s studies planted the seed for an online shop. PLNTS first saw the light in 2018 and proved a unique concept for the fourth generation in the Mostert indoor plants nursery business. The four sons now run a company with a full focus on e-commerce as well as the nursery. From their ambition to help other entrepreneurs enter the next growth phase, they recently acquired 123planten and 123kantoorplanten from Michiel Ingen Housz.

In a highly fragmented market, it was up to M&A specialists Jeffrey Scholtens, Lars de Ruiter and Sam Luijkx to identify potential targets. “Resulting in lots of interesting meetings with owners of mostly young companies in early 2022,” Jeffrey remembers. “Many of them had experienced huge growth in the previous years, and selling their companies was an attractive option to achieve the next step. We approached these targets at exactly the right moment, interest was vast.”

Join forces

One of those interested entrepreneurs was Michiel Ingen Housz, founder of the successful labels 123planten and 123kantoorplanten. “His interest had more personal reasons,” Jeffrey knows. “Michiel was keen to join a larger group to join forces, seize opportunities and find sparring partners at management level. In the new setup, he will keep an active role and thus also remains the public face of his companies. The ambitions of the group as a whole are all about expansion and internationalisation.”

The acquisition process went remarkably smoothly because all parties involved clicked on both a personal and a business level. “PLNTS’ vision – to serve a broad range of customers at home and abroad through different webshops from a single distribution centre – appealed to a large number of candidates,” Jeffrey tells. “Until the horticulture sector was hit hard by the energy crisis. That did cause some turmoil, but Jesse and Michiel came up with creative solutions to still go ahead with the transaction – a testament to their mutual trust.”

Step towards growth

With 123planten and 123kantoorplanten continuing under the PLNTS banner, a new phase in Michiel Ingen Housz’s life has come. “But for me, it is not a conclusion, but rather the start of great new developments.” Jesse Mostert agrees. “This is a splendid first step towards further growth. We are very grateful to the deal team for their expert guidance towards a strong foundation we can continue to build on as a group.”

The great passion for indoor plants will indeed motivate PLNTS to make more buy-and-build acquisitions, Jeffrey Scholtens realises as well. “Jesse and his brothers are down-to-earth, hands-on and decisive. Their drive is to help other businesses and reinforce their online position by making strategic choices as a group. With PLNTS, Jesse will do his utmost to help the acquired companies achieve their growth ambitions, despite the energy crisis causing turmoil for many companies in the horticulture sector.”