Entrepreneurship Club: Building a Platform with Balmaris & Baltisse

About this event

A buy-and-build told from both sides: the operator who is building it and the investor who is backing it Buy-and-build takes one slide to describe and years to actually do. It needs an operator who can run and integrate real businesses, a capital partner with genuine affinity for the sector, and a shareholder base that stays aligned when the plan meets reality. This evening is about how that gets assembled in practice — told from both sides of the table. Derek van Brussel founded Balmaris in 2026 to build a curated collection of European marinas, backed by Baltisse. The first is Moniga del Garda on Lake Garda — No. 01 in the collection. Earlier in his career Derek helped expand BR Marinas into the leading marina group in Latin America, through acquisitions and greenfield developments of more than $70m, before investing in small and mid-sized European businesses through private equity and venture capital. Benjamin Biesmans is Investment Director at Baltisse, the long-term holding of the Balcaen family — the family that built Balta and then IVC before both were divested. Baltisse invests its own capital with no external partners and no reporting obligations, writing €25m to €250m of equity per opportunity. It has backed this shape of business before: PIA Group in accountancy and Brokers in Excellence in insurance broking, both built on the same premise Balmaris applies to marinas — each business keeps its own identity while the group pools what benefits from scale. Derek will cover how the journey started, how the first platform acquisition came together, how he got sellers, management and co-investors, what changes when the ambition moves from buying a company to building a platform. Benjamin will cover how Baltisse decides a new sector is worth a buy-and-build, what they look for in an operator and what makes them walk away, how they think about the operator partnership across the life of a platform, and where value in these platforms actually gets created — as opposed to where people assume it does. Derek and Benjamin are both INSEAD alumni. The event will take place at the Club House, located within Baltisse’s offices. Places are limited and allocated first come, first served, with a waiting list once the event is full. Time Programme 18:00-18:30 Arrival and welcome drinks 19:15 Conversation with Derek van Brussel and Benjamin Biesmans 20:15 Open Q&A 20:45 Walking dinner and networking 22:00 Close