Oscar Sánchez, Head of Corporate Finance at NORGESTION, Mergers Alliance partner in Spain, was interviews by “Estrategia Empresarial” leading economic and business journal in the Basque region. “NORGESTION expects to close a positive year with 22 M&A advised deals”
The Basque financial advisory firm, NORGESTION has finished Q3 2024 with a very positive balance of 18 completed deals, 16 of them in corporate finance (M&A) and two in Capital Markets. Looking ahead to the end of the year, they expect to maintain this upward trend and increase this level of activity, reaching 22 completed transactions. “Taking into account that this year has been complicated for the sector, we are very satisfied to maintained 2023 levels with 18 closed transactions by the end of Q3” comments its Head of the Corporate Finance division, Óscar Sánchez.
This is proved by the number of deals that this company has completed until October, among which Oscar highlights the sale of the Catalan company Ricardo Molina to the Dutch Caldic or the sale of the software firm Distrito K to the Italian multinational TeamSystem.
He also highlights NORGESTION’s participation in the transaction through which USA Group, specialized in the manufacture of precision machined parts, incorporated new Basque investors into its shareholding after the exit of Portobello Capital. “This is a very important deal for us, especially in a sector in which we are being very active”
Transactions that have involved capital outlays of between 30 and 35 million euros on average and in which private equity funds continue to show a high investment appetite.
Continuing with the trend shown last year, investors continue to bet on sectors such as software and food. “We have completed deals with companies with different profiles within the food & drink sector, from a company dedicated to agribusiness to another specialized in pre-cooked convenience food, such Urkabe Benetan,” Oscar Sánchez comments that there are also sectors such as pharmaceuticals, which, although they have not accounted for many deals in the current year company performance, have maintained a high level activity in the M&A market.
Despite the slight slowdown experienced during the first half of the year in the mergers and acquisitions market, due to global economic uncertainty, Oscar believes that by the end of the year it is very likely that expectations will improve and that the different players will close more deals encouraged by the expected drop of interest rates. “For private equity investors, this rate reduction will be great news,” he concludes.
STRONG INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENT
Internationalization is usually the destination of part of the capital that investment funds inject into companies. In fact, there is a constant increase in cross-border transactions. In the case of NORGESTION, 30% of the deals advised in recent years have had a clearly cross-border component. The firm has gained importance in the international arena, as shown by the fact that last year it managed to position itself in the top 5 advisors in global corporate transactions. As part of the Mergers Alliance partnership, NORGESTION works together with its international member firms in acquisition and sale mandates, as well as in identifying deal opportunities.
Estrategia Empresarial 06-November-2024
