Independent asset manager Dunas Capital has appointed Juan Díaz-Laviada to the investment committee of Rainforest Dunas Iberia Fund I FCR, the first private equity fund of funds investing exclusively in Spain and Portugal-focused GPs.
The main role of the investment committee is to approve the transactions made by the fund after carrying out a thorough analysis of the market and its investment opportunities. In order to do that, the investment committee will use a sophisticated quantitative and qualitative scoring system that has been developed to select the best private capital fund managers of the Iberian market.
Díaz-Laviada has more than 32 years of experience in the private equity sector, after leading around 45 investments. Among other positions, he has been President and Country Head of Advent International Spain and international partner of the firm, as well as president of Spanish private equity trade body Ascri. He has also been Country Head of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Private Equity Spain between 1997 and 2002.
Díaz-Laviada holds a bachelor’s degree in Law and Business Management from ICADE and an MBP from the Keller School of Management, Chicago.
Additionally, Dunas Capital has hired Javier Reguart as a private equity funds analyst. Reguart joins in this way the team that analyses and evaluates the primary private capital funds in which Rainforest Dunas Iberia Fund I FCR invests. Reguart joins Dunas Capital from Fonditel, the funds and pension plan manager of Telefónica Group, where he worked for five years as an analyst in the alternative assets department. During that period, Reguart selected, invested and monitored national and international private capital funds, managing a portfolio of more than 75 private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private debt vehicles.
His responsibilities include maintaining a fluid relationship with private capital firms, analysing their track records as well as ensuring and improving the excellent implementation of Dunas Capital Rainforest’s scoring systems. Reguart will also perform due diligence on each fund under study and will make recommendations to the Investment Committee of Rainforest Dunas Iberia Fund I FCR.
Reguart holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Navarra and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) certificate.
David Angulo, Chairman of Dunas Capital, says: “The appointments of Juan Díaz-Laviada and Javier Reguart allow us to offer a better service to the investors in Rainforest Dunas Iberia Fund I, an innovative product that has been launched with the objective of offering a solution that is uncorrelated with market fluctuations. This product perfectly complements Dunas Capital’s broad catalogue and is awakening the interest from institutional investors.”
Jorge Viera, Managing Partner of Rainforest Capital Partners, says: “Juan and Javier possess a highly relevant experience in private capital. Their broad knowledge of the Iberian market will help to build a diversified portfolio with complementary strategies, generating attractive returns in a low interest rate environment.”
Díaz-Laviada says: “I am pleased to be a part of this exciting project. During many years Spanish GPs have depended on a great extent on foreign investors to raise their private capital funds. For this reason, the creation of this fund of funds is great news for the sector.”
Javier Reguart, private equity funds analyst at Dunas Capital, adds: “There are currently excellent investment opportunities in private capital in Spain and Portugal that will allow the creation of a powerful and diversified portfolio in Rainforest Dunas Iberia Fund I”.
