Tag: Iba Capital

Who Are The New Owners In Spain’s RE Sector?

11 April 2017 – Cinco Días

Two weeks ago, Neinor Homes debuted on the stock market, the first residential property developer to do so in a decade. (…). Who is behind the current transformation of the sector?

Neinor Homes was created just two years ago by the US fund Lone Star, which purchased the former real estate arm of Kutxabank for €935 million. The Texan firm injected capital, bought land, renewed the image and put its first cranes in place to surf the top of the wave of the recovery in the house construction segment. The company debuted on the stock market, much more quickly than it had initially planned, with a valuation of €1,300 million, and an excess of demand over supply of 4.3 x, from large investors.

The real estate company led by Juan Velayos, as CEO, and Juan Pepa, as Lone Star’s strong man in Spain, has demonstrated investors’ appetite for residential construction – the last segment to recover in the real estate sector. Experts indicate that demand for homes in Spain will amount to around 150,000 properties per year, compared with the 50,000 units that are currently being constructed. This is a space that nobody has occupied in recent years, following the death of classic developers such as Martinsa-Fadesa, Reyal Urbis, Astroc, Nozar and Habitat.

But Neinor is just the first of many. It is being followed by the US fund Värde Partners, possibly the most active in terms of purchases in Spain, which created Dospuntos using its own land and the basis of the former real estate business of Grupo San José. Last month, it starred in its latest large acquisition, purchasing Vía Célere, the property developer created by Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, for €90 million. (…).

And following both of them is Aedas, backed by the fund Castlelake, which is also proving very active in creating an enormous bank of land. These three real estate companies alone are expected to invest around €5,000 million in land, purchases and investments. And the latter two may well follow in Neinor’s footsteps with stock market listings.

These new property developers are replacing the Socimis in the newspaper headlines (…), which since 2014 have been active in the first segment to experience the recovery, namely, rental assets: large office buildings, commercial premises, shopping centres, hotels and industrial warehouses.

The leader in that sector is Merlin Properties, which has become one of the leading real estate companies in Europe, with a portfolio of assets worth €9,800 million. (…).

The other large Socimi that has attracted international capital since 2014 is Hispania, managed by Grupo Azora, a Spanish fund backed by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio. (…). It has become the largest purchaser of hotels in Spain, with a giant portfolio worth €1,800 million.

Lar España, managed by Grupo Lar, and Axiare, chaired by Luis López de Herrera-Oria are the other large Socimis on the main stock market, which have created net assets worth more than €1,200 million in record time. But they are not the only ones. Attracted by the tax benefits, many wealthy families have also used this legal structure to organise their assets. Examples include the Montoro Alemán family with the Socimi GMP (…).

Not to mention the large international real estate funds, such as Blackstone, Cerberus, Iba Capital, TH Real Estate, Orion, HIG and GreenOak, which, together with the Socimis, have been and are the most active players in terms of acquisitions.

The Barcelona-based firm Inmobiliaria Colonial has also undergone a comprehensive clean-up, with the segregation of its toxic land and residential business, to become the second-largest real estate company in the country, after Merlin. (…).

Meanwhile, Metrovacesa has headed in the opposite direction. After transferring its tertiary business to Merlin, it is now getting ready to become one of the major players in the residential sector, with the backing of BBVA and Santander. Similarly, the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim has revived Realia, also giving new life to the dead activity of house construction.

Other key players in recent years have been the banks’ platforms or servicers, such as Aliseda, Anida, Solvia, Altamira and Servihabitat, which have been managing the real estate portfolios of the financial institutions and promoting housing developments. (…).

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Generali Acquires c/Preciados, 9 For c. €100M

14 March 2017 – Real Estate Press

CBRE GI and IBA Capital have sold the building located on Calle Preciados, number 9, in Madrid for around €100 million. The property, which is currently being renovated, is leased to the Inditex brand Pull & Bear. The real estate consultancy firms JLL and Colliers have advised the sale operation.

Inditex will open a flagship Pull & Bear store in the property, which it leased on the advice of the real estate consultancy Inmored, itself part of The International Retail Network. The store will have a surface area of 2,400 m2, on one of the busiest high streets in Madrid, and is located just a stone’s throw away from La Puerta del Sol.

The former owners, IBA Capital and CBRE GI, entrusted the sales mandate to JLL and Colliers.

The property was acquired from El Corte Inglés by IBA Capital, which subsequently allowed CBRE GI to enter the deal in an operation that included the ABC Serrano shopping centre.

Generali Real Estate, the new owner, is one of the largest global mangers, with a presence across the main markets in Europe. Generali has made its first foray into the retail segment in Spain in a prime location and with one of the world’s leading retailers as its tenant.

Original story: Real Estate Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Who’s Who Behind The MAB’s Largest Socimis?

6 February 2017 – Expansión

The majority of Spain’s Socimis are now listed on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). They have a combined market capitalisation of €3,500 million and so account for 68.5% of the value of that market, which is aimed at small and medium-sized companies.

In total, 29 real estate companies form part of the MAB, which comprises 67 companies in total. Seventeen of those real estate companies debuted on the MAB last year (…).

The largest Socimis

With a market capitalisation of €819 million, GMP is the largest Socimi on the MAB, larger even than one of the four Socimis that trades on the main stock market, Lar España. GMP, which was founded in 1979 by the Montoro Alemán family, debuted on the MAB last July, after adopting the Socimi structure two years ago. The real estate company, which owns around twenty office buildings in the most high profile financial districts of Madrid, has the sovereign fund of Singapore GIC as one of its shareholders; GIC owns a 32.9% stake in GMP, which it controls through another MAB-listed company, Eurocervantes.

Moreover, GMP is not only the largest Socimi (on the MAB) by market capitalisation, it also holds the largest portfolio of assets, worth €1,800 million as at 30 June 2016.

Another important owner of office buildings is Zambal. This Socimi is the only one of the five largest Socimis on the MAB that is not managed by its owner. The firm Investment Business Beverage Fund, based in Luxembourg and owned by the French magnate Pierre Castel, has appointed Iba Capital to manage its real estate investments in Spain. Iba is led by Castel’s fellow countryman Thierry Julienne.

This Socimi is the landlord of a number of large companies, both home-grown and from overseas. It owns the Madrid headquarters of Vodafone, Enagás, Gas Natural, BMW, Unidad Editorial and Día, amongst other buildings. Its portfolio is worth more than €730 million and its market capitalisation amounts to €559 million.

Meanwhile, Uro Property was created by the creditors of the company Samo, which purchased around 1,130 bank branches leased to Banco Santander in 2007. Nowadays, after selling several batches, it owns 755 branches worth €1,585 million (as at 30 June 2016).

Its main shareholder is the firm Ziloti Holding, although Santander and CaixaBank also hold direct stakes in the company amounting to 22.79% and 14.5%, respectively.

Blackstone, the largest investment fund in the world, has also listed a Socimi on the MAB to manage some of its real estate assets in Spain. Specifically, it has placed the thousands of homes that it owns and rents out into Fidere, worth €317.5 million.

The fifth largest Socimi on the MAB by market capitalisation is Isc Fresh Water. This vehicle was created with more than 200 bank branches from Banco Sabadell purchased in April 2010 by the Mexican fund Fibra Uno, controlled by the investor Moisés El-Mann.

Nowadays, the Socimi owns 213 branches, worth around €374 million, and its main shareholders are the El-Mann family, with a 65% stake and Jacobo Bazbaz Sacal, with 14.85%.

Diversity on the MAB

Each one of the Socimis on the MAB has its own characteristics, ranging from Promorent, with its market capitalisation of €4 million to GMP (which is worth more than €800 million). Their performance on the stock market is also very different: five of them have recorded increases since the beginning of 2017; three have registered decreases; and the remaining 21 have not seen any changes in their share price since the start of the year. (…).

Outlook for 2017

The proliferation of Socimis on the stock market will continue this year, according to the experts, who believe that the economic context favours these companies. (…).

Nevertheless, analysts warn that their small size and lack of liquidity imply risks for investors, since it is possible that they will not be able to sell their shares when they want to, due to the very small volume of business. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz and Diana Esperanza)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gas Natural Sells Its HQ In Madrid To IBA Capital For €120M

24 November 2016 – Expansión

Gas Natural has had a change of heart in its strategy to sell its real estate jewels in Madrid. The firm chaired by Isidro Fainé, which engaged the real estate consultants CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield in the summer to sell its main real estate assets in the capital, has decided to divide up its batch of four properties and sell the most sought after asset, located on Avenida de San Luis, in a separate transaction.

In this sense, the energy company has reached an agreement with IBA Capital, through its Socimi Zambal, to sell its headquarters in the capital located on Avenida de San Luis 77. The transaction will be completed within the next few days for around €120 million, once the bureaucratic procedures have been completed.

The firm has opted for the sale & leaseback formula, involving the sale of the property and its subsequent lease for a period of ten years.

The real estate fund manager, which purchased Vodafone España’s headquarters in Madrid just over a year ago, has knocked out the Spanish real estate and investment manager, Drago Capital, from the process, which until now was the favourite candidate for taking over Gas Natural’s buildings in Madrid. Drago Capital, which has been in exclusive negotiations with the energy firm for several weeks regarding the purchase, was unable to complete the operation as it failed to obtain financing from the banks.

In terms of the rest of the buildings up for sale – one property on Avenida de América 38; the Acanto 11 complex; and the Antonio López complex, on Antonio López 193– , the company has decided to reopen the process and invite those investors who expressed interest in the initial process to participate. Besides Drago Capital, the finalists also included Henderson Park and Has Capital.

In total, the combined surface area of the four complexes amounts to 57,000 m2. In addition, this asset portfolio includes 1,695 parking spaces. Specifically, Gas Natural’s headquarters on Avenida de San Luis 77 has a surface area of almost 32,000 m2, which is dedicated to office space. With this operation, Gas Natural is taking advantage of the real estate sector’s current strong performance to generate value from its properties and earn some cash, without having to move its staff by remaining as the tenant.

The office market in Madrid and Barcelona has heated up a lot in recent months due to the shortage of high quality products in good locations. During the first three quarters of this year, investment in the office market amounted to €2,200 million, according to data from Aguirre Newman.

Gas Natural’s approach is in line with that of some of its rivals, which have also opted to divest their real estate investments. For example, Torre Cepsa, located in the Cuatro Torres complex in Madrid, was sold to Amancio Ortega’s investment vehicle, Pontegadea, two months ago for €490 million. Meanwhile, Endesa’s headquarters in the capital is owned by the Socimi Merlin and Iberdrola’s head office in Bilbao is partly owned by Kutxabank.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo & M. Á. Patiño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Drago Finalises Purchase Of Gas Natural’s RE Jewels

7 November 2016 – Expansión

The investment firm Drago Capital, together with the Canadian pension fund manager PSP Investments, has emerged as the clear candidate to acquire the real estate jewels of Gas Natural Fenosa in Madrid. The firm is now holding exclusive negotiations with the energy company to put the finishing touches to a deal that is likely to close within the next few weeks.

According to market sources, the offer from the Spanish real estate vehicle manager, which was presented as part of a consortium with the Canadian fund, has supplanted those submitted by the other suitors also interested in the assets.

The operation values the energy company’s assets in Spain’s capital at just over €300 million, which means that this will be the largest sale and leaseback transaction (sale to a third party and subsequent rental of the property) since 2010.

The firm chaired by Isidro Fainé engaged the real estate consultancy firms CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield in the summer to sell its main real estate assets in Madrid. This process sparked interest amongst private equity funds and investors alike, both at home and overseas.

Other candidates

Specifically, in addition to Drago, the investors Iba Capital, Henderson Park and a family office participated in the bidding until the latest round. Has Capital, which had also expressed its interest in Gas Natural’s properties, withdrew at the last minute as it was unable to raise financing.

The assets up for sale are: the group’s headquarters in Madrid, located on Avenida de San Luis 77; a property on Avenida de América 38; the Acanto complex, at number 11 on the same street; and the Antonio López complex on Calle Antonio López 193.

Altogether, the global surface area of the four complexes amounts to 57,000 m2. In addition, the portfolio of assets includes 1,695 parking spaces. (…) .

Gas Natural’s move comes at a time when its competitors are also divesting their real estate assets.

Specifically, Torre Cepsa – one of the Cuatro Torres in Madrid – was acquired just two months ago by Pontegadea. That purchase – the largest ever undertaken by Amancio Ortega’s investment vehicle – was completed in September and saw the founder and largest shareholder of Inditex spend €490 million.

Meanwhile, Endesa’s headquarters in the capital is owned by Merlin; and Iberdrola’s headquarters in Bilbao is partially owned by Kutxabank.

Repsol still owns its headquarters in Madrid, in Méndez Álvaro, however, there has been speculation that the oil company may sell the asset. (…).

According to the consultancy JLL, real estate investment in the office segment is expected to exceed €2,400 million in 2016. That figure falls below the record €3,170 million achieved last year due to the limited supply of high quality products. During the first nine months of 2016, investment in offices amounted to €1,572 million, with Madrid accounting for the vast majority of that figure (€1,150 million).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo & M. A. Patiño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Henderson, IBA, Has & Drago Bid For Gas Natural’s RE Assets

19 October 2016 – Expansión

The bidding for Gas Natural’s real estate gems in Madrid is entering its final phase. The British fund manager Henderson Global Investors, IBA Capital, through its Socimi Zambal, the US investment fund Has Capital and the Spanish management company Drago Capital have all submitted binding offers for the four corporate office complexes that the energy firm has put up for sale in the Spanish capital.

The assets include: the group’s operating headquarters in Madrid, located on Avenida de San Luis 77 (pictured above); a property on Avenida de América 38; the Acanto complex, at number 11 on the same street; and the Antonio López complex on Calle Antonio López 193.

The investors have submitted offers valuing the assets, which have a combined surface area of 57,000 sqm in office space and 1,695 parking spaces, at around €300 million, according to sources in the sector.

The gas firm, which engaged the real estate consultancy firms CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield to sell its main real estate assets in Madrid this summer, plans to chose the candidate during the second half of November and close the deal before the end of the year.

The firm, chaired by Isidro Fainé, is negotiating with these four investors regarding the option of selling the four office complexes in a single operation or awarding the assets in batches. In this sense, both IBA Capital and Has Capital have already submitted offers for all of the assets as well as for different batches, an option that the other candidates may also consider.

The operation, whereby Gas Natural will sell the properties but continue as the tenant, will allow the firm to raise funds without needing to move its employees or look for new offices.

The operation represents the largest sale & leaseback deal in the segment in recent years. (…). The volume of sale & leaseback operations reached its peak between 2007 and 2010, but has slowed down since then. Nevertheless, the formula has been used recently by companies such as Telefónica and Eroski. (…).

The future of sale & leaseback operations

However, new accounting legislation, which no longer allows property sales that are subsequently rented out to be accounted for as off balance sheet financing structures, may put a stop to this option of real estate asset optimisation.

Specifically, IFRS 16 requires companies to recognise rental commitments as debt, except those that have a term of less than a year or relate to low value assets. This standard, which will replace the standard currently in force, IAS 17, eliminates the dual accounting model for lessees, which differentiates between financing lease contracts, which are recorded on balance sheet, and operating lease contracts, which do not require future lease commitments to be recognised (on balance sheet).

Although the new law does not enter into force until 2019, companies are obliged to analyse their lease contracts in advance and make new estimates, which must be updated on a regular basis.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and M. A. Patiño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ECI Puts Logistics Assets Worth c.€300M Up For Sale

10 August 2016 – Expansión

The distribution giant El Corte Inglés has engaged Morgan Stanley to find investors who may be interested in acquiring assets worth between €200 million and €300 million, according to real estate sources.

Specifically, the company chaired by Dimas Gimeno intends to divest 33 assets, which have a surface area spanning more than 500,000 sqm, as well as five plots of land.

The assets on the market include rental contracts guaranteed for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years; and the deadline for submitting non-binding offers will close at the end of September.

Sources consulted indicate that some of the warehouses included in the sale are not sufficiently tall enough to meet with current demands from investors for this type of asset, which has forced them to adjust the duration of their contracts, as well as the rental prices.

The batch for sale, which comprises 38 assets in total, including the plots of land, contains: El Corte Inglés’ logistics centres in Bisbal del Penedès (Tarragona) and on La Peluquera industrial estate in Madrid. It also includes other assets on Las Atalayas industrial estate (in Alicante) and the Goro en Telde estate (in Gran Canaria).

By contrast, El Corte Inglés has not included any assets currently considered to be strategic in the batch. Thus, for example, the jewel in its logistics assets crown will not be included: its mega centre in the south of Madrid.

Reduce debt

The company, which seeks to reduce its debt balance with these divestment operations, may consider selling other types of non-strategic real estate assets in the future, as Expansión revealed in March.

These real estate asset divestments follow others completed by El Corte Inglés in recent years. In this way, in the summer of 2013, the distribution group completed the sale of a building next to Plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona to the fund manager IBA Capital.

Months later, it sold another property to the same investor on Calle Preciados in Madrid.

Other divestments

Last December, the chain sold another building in the iconic Puerta del Sol in Madrid for €65 million to the US fund Thor Equities. At the time, the group agreed to continue to occupy the building, which houses its book store and is located in one of the most important shopping areas of the capital, for another year.

Similarly, in February, the group sold the building that it had acquired ten years ago on Calle Fontanella in Barcelona for €17 million to a Russian investor, which plans to convert the property into a hotel.

By contrast, El Corte Inglés has also completed several important asset purchases in recent years. In this way, the company acquired a plot of land from the railway infrastructure manager Adif, right on Paseo de la Castellana for €136 million in 2014. This plot of land is located next to one of the company’s main shopping centres in the capital, in Nuevos Ministerios.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ABC Serrano Completes 2 Year Refurbishment

21 July 2016 – Expansión

After almost two years under refurbishment, the ABC Serrano shopping centre in Madrid, the former headquarters of the ABC newspaper and a property with more than one hundred years under its belt, is ready to secure new brands, attract younger customers and compete with the fashion houses and restaurants along Madrid’s golden mile.

The shopping centre, which has a retail surface area of 14,000 sqm and 255 underground parking spaces, spread over four floors, is accessible from both Paseo de la Castellana and Calle Serrano.

The co-Presidents of IBA Capital Partners, Thierry Julienne and Jesús Valderrama, explained in an interview with Expansión that, since the architect Mariano Bayón was commissioned in the 1990s to completely renovate the building and convert it into a shopping centre, ABC Serrano has not undergone any remodelling. “We have brought a sleeping beauty to life. It is another step in the regeneration of the city centre”, said Julienne.

The construction work, which began in Q4 2014 and which will be completed in September, had a budget of €15 million and has been complex. Firstly, because the building is a listed property for the purposes of cultural interest and, also, because the remodelling process has been undertaken in the presence of tenants and shoppers. “We have maintained an open dialogue with the Town Hall, which has guided us a lot”, explained Julienne.

The construction work at ABC Serrano, which has been owned by CBRE Global Investment Partners since February 2016 and in which IBA Capital participates as a shareholder and the manager of the asset, has focused on improving access between the floors and redistributing the retail space.

In this way, the flights of stairs have now been unified into a single core. In addition, the dome of the building, which was previously covered over, has been turned into a huge skylight allowing natural light to enter the building.

The construction work, which has been led by the architecture studio L35, will allow the shopping centre to secure new brands, attract customers on the weekend and improve the profitability of the asset. “We reject offers from tenants that do not fit with the centre’s image”, explained Julienne.

The co-Presidents of IBA indicated that the shopping centre, which has an occupancy rate of 70%, has signed new lease contracts with Habitat, which will open its new flagship store in a 900 sqm unit; as well as with a hand and footcare specialist D-Uñas, and Zooo-Huawei, the official technical service company of Huawei and Sony. In addition, tenants such as Neck&Neck, El Armario Francés, Sebago, Luis&Tachi, Lujans, Viena Capellanes and Calzedonia, amongst others, have renewed their contracts. “This is a trophy asset, both in terms of the location and because it is an iconic building with a new image”, said Valderrama.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Inv’t In Offices Exceeds €2,500M In 9m To Sept

22 October 2015 – Expansión

They are the most desirable assets in the sector and Socimis, investment funds and traditional real estate companies alike are all bidding for them. They are office buildings. During the first nine months of the year, this type of property has starred in investment operations amounting to €2,500 million, an increase of 15% compared with the total investment volume recorded in 2014 as a whole.

“Last year, €1,665 million was invested (in offices), of which €655 million was spent during the third quarter. This strong level of activity coincided with the closure by many Socimis of their first operations, which accounted for almost 40% of the quarterly total. This year, the figure for Q3 was 5% higher than the amount recorded during the same period in 2014, but if we look at the year to date, the cumulative total exceeds the total for the whole year 2014, by 15%”, said Pablo Pavía, National Investment Director at Savills España.

Some of the most active players include the large Socimis, such as Axiare, which has invested €243 million on the acquisition of ten buildings, mostly in Madrid and Hispania – which is not a Socimi itself, but which channels the majority of its investments through a subsidiary that is –, which has spent more than €97 million on the purchase of four office buildings.

Alongside the Socimis, which accounted for just over one third of the market, we have the funds and managers, such as Iba Capital, which has purchased several headquarters, including Vodafone’s. Insurance companies such as Axa and Mapfre monopolise the buying ranking, together with traditional real estate companies such as Colonial, which is currently analysing purchases worth €1,000 million.

Thanks to this investor boom, the average availability rate in Madrid is now 10.6%, a figure that has fallen below the 11% threshold for the first time since 2011 and which confirms the trend that began in the middle of 2014, according to JLL. In the case of Barcelona, the availability rate is 11.4%, a similar figure to the levels last seen in 2009.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Iba Capital’s Socimi, Zambal, Will List This Year

17 September 2015 – Expansión

The Socimi Zambal, created by the fund manager Iba Capital, is finalising its debut on the stock exchange before the end of the year. Its main assets include the headquarters of BMW, Enagás and Día in Madrid and the ABC Serrano shopping centre, also in the capital.

A new mega Socimi is preparing to debut on the stock market in 2015. The company in question is Zambal Spain, the listed real estate investment company created by the fund manager Iba Capital. With assets worth €500 million, the company will list on the MAB stock exchange before the end of the year. “We are not in any rush, but our aim is to go public before the end of the year”, explains Thierry Julienne, the President of IBA and of Zambal.

Since closing its first acquisition in 2013, the fund manager has created one of the most desirable portfolios in the market and plans to invest a further €1,000 million in new acquisitions. “We aim to invest a further €500 million in assets with a core profile in Madrid and Barcelona, through Zambal Spain, plus an additional €500 million with a value-added profile (those that require active management) in Spain’s main regional capital cities, through other vehicles”, explained Julienne in a statement.

The Socimi closed its first operation in Spain in the summer of 2013, when it purchased a building in Plaza Cataluña, Barcelona, from El Corte Inglés for €100 million. At the end of that year, it bought the ABC Serrano shopping centre and an office complex, located on Avenida de San Luis, 25, both in Madrid, from the real estate company Reyal Urbis, which had filed for bankruptcy in the February of that year. The office houses the headquarters of the communication group Unidad Editorial (which edits Expansión, El Mundo and Marca, amongst others).

Over the last two years, Zambal has added the headquarters of other famous brands to its portfolio. In December 2013, Iba purchased Torres Ágora from the real estate company Colonial; the property is leased in its entirety to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Socimi spent €73 million on its purchase of that office complex.

In 2014, the fund manager acquired Enagás’ headquarters in Madrid for €35 million and then Día’s headquarters for €30 million.

At the beginning of this year, Iba purchased BMW’s head offices in Spain, located in the north west of the capital. It paid €41 million to the French real estate company Gecina for the property, which measures 11,680 m2.

In addition to its extensive portfolio of offices, the Socimi also owns a retail building on Calle Preciados, 9, which it acquired from El Corte Inglés in 2013 for €50 million. Once the renovation of the property has been completed, it will house a major international fashion company.

Both the Socimi and the fund manager are led by Thierry Julienne, the former director of the consultancy Exa in Spain. Its investors include major European and American investors.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake