Buy-and-build in Poland: why private equity looks to Central Europe
For investors running a buy-and-build strategy, Poland is one of the most interesting markets in Europe. The combination is rare: a large, fragmented SME market, a wave of business successions, an economy that grew 3.6% in 2025, and tax schemes that reward acquisitions and reinvestment.
What makes buy-and-build work in Poland
Buy-and-build means acquiring a platform company and bolting on smaller peers until you have a larger, more professional group. Poland lends itself well to this:
The SME market is fragmented. Many sectors, from manufacturing and construction supply to installation and logistics, consist of dozens of regional players without a dominant market leader. That leaves room to build scale through a series of acquisitions.
A succession wave is coming. The generation of entrepreneurs who built companies after 1989 is now retiring, and by no means all of them have a successor. The company we are currently offering for sale, a profitable door manufacturer with over a hundred employees, is a typical example: the owners are stopping, the business is thoroughly healthy.
The macro numbers support the thesis. The European Commission forecasts 3.5% growth for 2026, and the number of foreign investment projects rose 13% in 2024. You are buying into a growing market, not a shrinking one.
The tax toolkit
Two schemes matter especially for buy-and-build investors. The Polish Investment Zone grants a corporate income tax exemption for new investments, anywhere in Poland and typically for twelve years. And the Estonian CIT defers taxation until profit is distributed, which makes reinvesting the profits of company one into the acquisition of company two fiscally attractive.
Where it goes wrong without a local partner
Buy-and-build stands or falls with deal flow and integration. Both are more linguistic and more personal in Poland than spreadsheet investors expect: the best opportunities circulate in local networks, and sellers entrust their life’s work to a buyer they trust. Polska Consult Holland opens that network, interprets in both senses of the word, and guides you from first conversation to notary.
Exploring a platform acquisition in Poland? Get in touch for a confidential review of the current opportunities.
