Maarten Bynens
CEO Initium, 37
Maarten Bynens founded the investment fund Renardmont in December, together with ten other Limburg entrepreneurs. Their first investment is in the window decorator Decoline in Pelt. Since 2009, the entrepreneur has led the Hasselt-based holding company Initium, which is active in automation (Seculux/Entrya in Lanklaar and GMF in Genk), compressors and generators (LVC Solutions in Genk), packaging (Aluvin in Herentals), health advice (MoveInc in Hasselt) and garden sheds (Nowak in As).
“Initium wants to grow in the sectors in which it is already active,” says Bynens. “With Renardmont, we are looking at other sectors in Limburg, raising capital acquisition by acquisition.” Initium has a portfolio of 11 million euros (2018). Against 0.9 million euros in equity, there are 10.8 million euros in debt, of which more than 4 million euros would have been paid off last year.
Bynens and his wife are shareholders of Initium. The starting capital was mainly acquired through the development of flats in Antwerp. Maarten Bynens did not finish his master’s degree in management at the Hogeschool (now KDG), but started as a consultant at Securitas Germany, about which he had done a study. “I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” he explains.