Bending Spoons compounds growth with 2.5x leverage on 50+ acquisitions
The tech acquirer uses a disciplined debt strategy to fund its expansion across dozens of companies. Founder Luca Ferrari maintains leverage below 3x to ensure long-term cash flow compounding.
Bending Spoons has acquired approximately 50 to 60 technology companies, including Airtable, AOL, Vimeo, Eventbrite, Komoot, and WeTransfer. The company’s strategy involves purchasing assets, optimizing them to increase EBITDA, and leveraging that improved cash flow to fund further acquisitions. Luca Ferrari explained that the company maintains a leverage ratio of approximately 2.4x to 2.5x, keeping it well below the 3x threshold. To mitigate risk, Bending Spoons refinances most debt annually to keep maturities five years or more out and hedges 100% of its debt against interest rate fluctuations. Ferrari asserted that the risk of default is close to zero, citing stringent self-imposed limits and the ability to pay back 100% of debt before maturity even under adverse scenarios.
Ferrari prioritizes long-term free cash flow compounding over short-term valuation metrics, arguing that this approach yields higher ultimate results even if current multiples are lower. He compared this strategy to historical successes like Broadcom and Transdigm, noting that while radical invention offers higher peaks, incremental optimization and compounding debt-fueled growth are more dependable for long-term value creation. The company’s model relies on turning operational improvements into tangible cash flow, which then serves as the capital base for the next round of acquisitions.