I see two things here:
- in Europe there is already a big conglomerate of animal related products: Hagen, who own Fluval, Exo Terra, Cat-it, Dennerle, etc. Some of their brands are good, some are meh
- however here we are talking about an equity firm, so they do not seem to have a "passion at heart" (Hagen funded an expedition to properly describe Geosesarma "vampire" crabs). So they see it as an opportunity to make money. I was looking at their portfolio, and it looks like previously, they had invested in companies that were manufacturing glass/acrylic panes, then no big picture can really be seen.
Bertram Capital Portfolio
www.bertramcapital.com
Some of their investments are marked as "exited": I checked and some of the companies have been acquired, others are still around as independent entities. I could not find any testimonies coming from the companies that passed in their hands. But based on some of the sales to other larger investors, it looks like their specialty is to grow the businesses they get into their portfolio before reselling them.
Now, if I recall correctly, a lot of hobbyists last only 18 months in reefkeeping. So if we just imagine getting more hobbyists, but not maintaining them more than that... I am not sure if it is good for us, since it will mean a lot of dead animals in the process. BRS might sell stuff to "make reefing easy" (I would say easier), but they cannot sell patience, and it looks like this is what most people lack.
As a side note, these acquisitions might be due to the fact that there was a boom during the pandemic. Josh's Frogs in the vivarium world told they doubled in size to match the demand. What will happen after the pandemic?
