Identifying companies that can successfully grow by acquisition

In this low growth environment, it’s important to look for companies that can grow on their own steam says Anton Tagliaferro, Investment Director at Investors Mutual. Specifically, he says companies that can grow by acquisition or that have organic growth mechanisms built into their business models and earnings profiles. Tagliaferro says he remains attracted to companies, such as Pact Group, that have a long track record of successfully growing through acquisition. On this front he says the key to finding the gems is about management and their track record of successfully executing an acquisition strategy: “the people who are making these acquisitions, have they had a good history of acquiring at the right price and successfully integrating the new acquisition into the business. In this interview Tagliaferro provides his view on the current environment, some examples of companies he believes are growing successfully and a few red flags for acquisitions that could go wrong: