Three members Aurica Capital’s management team – Ferran Conti, Ramón Mas and Iván Plaza – have acquired a majority stake in the Spanish growth capital firm. The trio have led Aurica’s management team since its creation in 2015. Banco Sabadell will retain the remaining ownership.
This management buyout was decided and signed in 2020, and it finally came to fruition after securing the required regulatory approval from the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV). Aurica Capital does not plan to alter the current members of its executive and investment committees, nor its investment policy or fund structure, following the transaction.
Iván Plaza, Partner at Aurica Capital, says: “This decision is a natural evolution for our firm. Under our new ownership, we will continue the successful course of recent years in a context in which private equity will benefit from the tailwind brought by the high volumes of liquidity in the market and the complex context left by the pandemic. In that environment, we believe many more companies will benefit from our support as minority investors, through which we will help them grow both organically and through acquisitions and their internationalisation.” Plaza also pointed out that, with the change of ownership, “Aurica becomes, in essence, a new independent asset manager in Barcelona.”
Raúl Rodríguez, Managing Director of BS Capital and an executive Board member of Aurica, who will continue to represent Banco Sabadell in the firm, said: “At Banco Sabadell, we will continue to provide our know-how to help Aurica in deal origination, thanks to our leadership in corporate banking for the middle market. We will also continue offering our clients an opportunity in alternative assets: a segment that the bank considers strategic.”
Aurica’s team currently manages EUR200 million between its third fund and several co-investments. The fund is performing strongly, and is targeting a high return on its final investment phase. Aurica III already made 7 investments: the most recent in SamyRoad, a company specialized in advocacy, influencer marketing and branded content. Aurica also has stakes in the photovoltaic components manufacturer STI Norland; the restaurant group Larrumba; Flex, a manufacturer of sleep solutions; the horticultural produce marketer Agrosol Export; the sales force outsourcing and point-of-sale management company Winche; and the manufacturer and marketer of masterbatch for the cable industry Delta Tecnic.
Since its creation, Aurica Capital has specialised in taking minority stakes in middle market companies with revebyes of between EUR20 and EUR350 million, to which it allocates between EUR8 and EUR30 million.
