Inaki Echave will join Blackstone’s private equity group as a managing director, with primary responsibility for Spain and Portugal.
Echave (pictured) was most recently a partner with Magnum Capital, the largest independent buy-out fund on the Iberian Peninsula.
He will work alongside Claudio Boada, Blackstone’s chairman for Iberia.
Lionel Assant, a senior managing director at Blackstone and head of its European private equity business, says: “We are delighted that someone of Inaki’s talent and experience is coming to Blackstone. There is a great need in the region to deploy our long-term patient capital to grow companies and create jobs and value.”
Echave says: “I am very pleased to be joining Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm. It has a global network, and unparalleled experience and expertise improving the companies it invests in. I am looking forward to being part of the investing team.”
In 2010, Blackstone bought Mivisa, a Spanish packaging company. Since then it has invested over EUR35m in the business, grown sales by over 11 per cent and employment by five per cent. Blackstone has USD51bn in private equity assets under management globally as of the end of 2012 and as of the same date has USD16bn to deploy globally in future private equity investments.
Before joining Magnum in 2006, Echave worked for 3i Group, where he served as a director of the pan-European buyout team based in London and a director of the Spanish/Portuguese team, based in Madrid. Before 3i, he worked for JP Morgan Partners (now CCMP Capital Advisors) in Madrid and London, re-launching their activities in Spain. He started his career as a strategic consultant at Bain & Company in a variety of sectors and companies in Spain and the UK.
