Marc Backer

Marc De Backer is a Belgian-trained finance professional and entrepreneur now based in the Philadelphia area (Devon, PA). He holds an MSc in Business Economics with a Finance specialization from KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2010–2011) and is a CFA charterholder (CFA Institute). He began his career in professional services and advisory, with roles at Deloitte and EY, and later at Value Enhancement Partners, building a foundation in finance, valuation, and operational value creation.

He subsequently spent several years (3+ years as Managing Director) at Legia Capital, a Ghent-based single-family office that invests "family capital" in small and medium-sized industrial B2B "niche champions" across Belgium and the Netherlands. Legia is backed by the Thiers family, the entrepreneurs behind Unilin and its Quick-Step flooring brand, and positions itself as a long-term, active partner focused on value creation, succession, and human capital rather than short-hold financial engineering.

Today Marc is the Founder & CEO of Nordlys, an independent-sponsor holding company he built to acquire, own, and operate businesses directly. Nordlys describes its team as "operators at heart" who step into a business post-close and take hands-on responsibility for running and improving it. He has personally acquired and operated companies across several industries — including wallpaper manufacturing, agricultural-equipment manufacturing, energy brokerage, and equipment rental — reflecting a lower-middle-market "buy, operate, and grow" model closer to entrepreneurship-through-acquisition than to venture investing.

• Buy-and-operate, not passive investing: Nordlys frames itself as "operators at heart" who take active operational responsibility for the companies they acquire rather than holding passively.
• Target profile: Established, profitable lower-middle-market operating companies in industrial, manufacturing, and business-services niches — the kind of "niche champion" thesis he also pursued at Legia Capital.
• Sector conviction: Machinery/industrial manufacturing, equipment rental and leasing, chemical manufacturing, agricultural equipment, energy brokerage, and commercial repair services.
• Value creation over financial engineering: Both Nordlys and Legia emphasize long-term value creation, succession, and people/operations rather than quick flips.
• What makes him say yes: A durable niche business with real operations he can step in and improve — as opposed to pre-revenue startups seeking passive minority capital.