Commitments reaching close to 60% of a €15m target, fourteen search funds across four geographies, and a first portfolio company. The end of Arada's first year.
Arada Capital Partners, the private equity firm advised by Javier Puig and managed by Tressis Gestión, has completed its first closing with commitments close to 60% of its target capital of €15m. The firm ends its first year with an initial portfolio of fourteen national and international search funds and a first portfolio company, IESMAT.
In that first year Arada has consolidated its presence across four geographies — Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal and France — and is finalising its entry into Italy, becoming one of the reference institutional investors in the European search fund ecosystem.
The plan
The objective is to acquire around twenty companies, split roughly evenly between Spain and the rest of Europe including the UK, managed through thirty national and international search funds. Tressis SV acts as exclusive distributor among family offices, mostly Spanish, and entrepreneurs with operating experience across sectors — investors who are looking not only to allocate capital but to support the entrepreneurs and management teams of the companies acquired.
The fourteen search funds financed to date bring together eighteen entrepreneurs currently searching for an SME with EBITDA of between €1m and €3m in their respective geographies. The model consists of acquiring one company, managing it and growing it — in many cases facilitating the succession and generational handover of family-owned businesses.
During 2023 we plan to complete several acquisitions of companies with succession issues across Europe. Although 2022 was not an easy year, we have seen a great deal of movement among SMEs and very interesting investment opportunities.
First portfolio company
Arada's first portfolio company is IESMAT, the Madrid-based scientific instrumentation supply, installation and support firm led by Enrique Sales, founding partner of Signatus Capital, the search fund that identified and acquired 100% of the company. With a reinforced sales and after-sales team, the opening of an office in Barcelona and entry into Portugal, we expect solid growth during 2023.
For the sourcing and management of the companies it backs, Arada finances entrepreneurs with a wide variety of profiles. What we look for is sufficient commitment and experience for an entrepreneur not only to identify and acquire an SME, but to manage and run it afterwards.