What are the most prevalent holdco varieties in the ETA space?

January 06, 2026

by a professional from Columbia University in Garden City, NY, USA

We hear a lot about PE roll-ups which, while technically holdcos, are better thought of as temporary aggregators. What other flavors of holdcos are serving investors and operators in this space? What are important factors for comparison and consideration?

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Reply by a searcher
from University of East London in London, UK

I think holdco gets used as a broad label, but in practice the differences come down to intent. Some are genuinely permanent, operator led holdcos built to own and compound good cash flowing businesses over a long period, with patient capital and no pressure to exit. Others start as classic search or ETA deals and then naturally evolve into multi acquisition platforms, where the first company is a foundation rather than the finish line. You also see a lot of sector focused platforms, especially in services and industrials, where the holdco adds value through shared systems, pricing, and procurement while letting local teams keep their identity. PE roll ups are technically holdcos too, but they behave very differently since they are usually built around a defined exit. For me, the useful comparison points are capital duration, how much control the operator really has, how leverage is used, and whether the structure is designed to compound or to sell.

Reply by a searcher
from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, MD, USA

To answer your title question, I think most common is your average everyday entrepreneur who through their lifetime has bought or built more than one company, most likely a lifestyle one, your car washes, laundromats, service franchises, etc. Although many of them have probably never heard the term ETA before. If you mean those that are AWARE they are in the ETA space, I think what is most common is a single venture that they have added on to or have maxed out efficient growth and move on to a new venture with the same playbook, likely roughly adjacent to their previous acquisition. At it's core not very different than the unaware ETA member. Once you scale outside of your individual entrepreneur or partners, I think you'll see most commonly a lot more structured multi-ownership with direct theses, although with the intent to sell their companies within a shorter benchmark.

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