According to the first estimates obtained by the Spanish Venture Capital & Priivate Equity Association (ASCRI), through the European platform EDC, the volume of investment in Spain reached EUR1,434 million euros in the first half of the year, with a total number of 344 investments. Although the investment volume has suffered a drop (67 per cent less than in the same period of 2019) due to the fact that no mega-deals have been closed, the number of transactions has remained stable with respect to previous years despite the current situation. Venture Capital has been the driving force with respect to the number of transactions, with a volume of EUR307.2 million in a total of 297 investments.
Aquilino Peña, president of ASCRI, says: “Currently, and although the Venture Capital & Private Equity industry will go through a period of some slowdown, private capital is part of the solution and will play a key role in the coming months, both on the investment side and in its management experience. At ASCRI we are calling for certainty and stable regulation so that international investors continue to invest in Spain”.
Depending on the type of investor, international funds continue to show their interest in Spain, being responsible for EUR993.4 million invested in 79 deals, a new record in the number of transactions in a semester. Private national investors closed 208 investments and public national investors made 57 investments.
By size of the investments, the middle market (transactions with an equity investment of between EUR10 million and EUR100 million ) maintained its dynamism by capturing a total volume of 612.2M€ distributed in 23 investments. Of the total number of registered transactions, 309 received less than EUR5 million of equity.
Buy-out deals registered a volume of EUR375.4 million in 13 investments, while in terms of growth capital, EUR143 million was deployed in 26 deals.
The sectors that received the highest volume of investment were Industrial Products and Services (34 per cent), Biotechnology (21 per cent) and Electronics (11 per cent). By number of investments, the most important were IT (180 investments), Medicine/Health and Biotechnology/Genetic Engineering (29) and Industrial Products and Services (20).
Total value of funds raised by national private investors reached EUR990 million, 36.4 per cent more than in the same period of 2019. This is a result of fundraising processes which had already started in 2019.
Divestment volume registered an estimated figure (at cost price) of EUR656.3 million in 101 transactions, with 80 per cent of that volume divested through a “sale to a third party”.
