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You combine experience leading business transformations, building B2B companies, and working in both management consulting and investment banking. Could you briefly tell us about your professional journey?
I started in investment banking at Credit Lyonnais Americas in New York, on the M&A team for Latin America. Our team ranked first in the regional M&A league table in 2002. After four years I moved back to Europe, did an MBA at INSEAD and joined McKinsey in Paris, where I spent four years across sectors, project types and countries.
I then left to build something of my own. An American partner and I set up a BPO and office management company out of Jordan, built around supporting the growth of SMEs in the region. We started from scratch, customers, teams, operations, and grew it for six years, through setbacks and opportunities. The company is still operating today.
In parallel, I joined the board of Bodegas LAN in Rioja, where I served as a non-executive director for five years, and later partnered with one of the largest premium wine groups in the Iberian Peninsula to set up an online wine business in the UK.
I then joined Makro, the largest wholesaler in Spain. Makro had a distinctive position in its market but the business was under pressure across its customer base. There was a lot to do. I joined first as a non-executive board member and served on the board for seven years, five of them as Chairman. Two years in, I also took the executive role of CFO for Spain and Portugal, and held the Spanish CFO role for more than six years, running finance, controlling, data analytics and IT with a team of over 90. As a board, we led the transformation of the company from a cash & carry to a multichannel wholesaler. We did this with a sharper assortment built around customer needs, sustained investment in the sales force and in delivery infrastructure, and a rebuild of core processes. Makro went from a declining €1.2Bn business to a growing operation close to €2.0Bn. This is the reference point for my next project.
You spent several months evaluating different ETA paths before making your decision. What ultimately convinced you to launch a traditional search fund?
I looked at three routes into ownership. The first was a self-funded search, where you find the company first and raise the equity deal by deal. The second was raising a committed fund upfront to pursue a buy-and-build across several acquisitions. The third was a traditional search fund, with capital committed upfront for both the search and a first acquisition.
I chose the search fund approach because I decided to go for one larger company first to act as the platform for future growth and acquisitions. This left me with the choice of either going self-funded or engaging investors for a search fund. The latter provides me with access to a group of experienced investors and the financial backing to engage founders and intermediaries.
During the fundraising process I also met exceptional individuals whom I am happy to have on board with me. My investors are mostly institutional, with a private equity background, of many nationalities, with different experiences and an entrepreneurial mindset.
How has your extensive leadership experience shaped the way you approach this new chapter?
I am very excited about this new chapter and I approach it with a confidence I did not have earlier in my career.
Part of this comes from judgment. After working with businesses at different levels of maturity, I recognize the strengths and weaknesses of a business model more quickly, understand where and how it can work, and assess its potential. I am also better equipped to read a company’s capabilities and to identify operational risks upfront. These are valuable in the search and in the choice I make.
As a business leader, I have been accountable for results and these are achieved with a team. My first focus will be on assessing the management team because after closing I will depend on them. I also know what it costs, in time and in management attention, to grow a company and the changes it involves in the way the company works. So I am looking for a business that can absorb that change. I know this requires energy from the whole company, that you lead by example and that you earn a team’s trust by working closely with them and delivering a project and results together.
On the search process itself, I am treating it from the start as a business taking advantage of these slower summer months to get a head start in preparations. I am putting together the data, the analysis, the priorities, and the processes and tools to get a head start in September, when activity picks up again. I am also interested in applying new technologies to make the process more effective and efficient.
Spain is currently one of the most competitive search fund markets in the world, alongside the U.S. Yet you managed to raise an oversubscribed fund within just a few weeks. What do you think resonated most with investors? And how did you decide which investors would ultimately join your cap table?
Within three weeks the fund was fully subscribed, and oversubscribed shortly after. Part of that was a good upfront selection. I engaged from the beginning with a group of investors who had both available funds and an interest in Spain.
Then there is momentum in the market. A large number of founders in Spain, and across Europe, are reaching the succession decision at the same time, and investors are allocating capital to search funds to meet it.
My professional profile is also an asset. Investors saw my track record, from investment banking to consulting to startups to the transformation of the largest wholesaler in Spain, as an advantage when engaging founders, closing the deal and subsequently managing the business. They also saw my commitment to the project and specifically my past as an entrepreneur and my wish to lead and own a company.
I am very grateful for all the support I have received during the fundraising process. When it came to closing the cap table I prioritized institutional search fund investors who could bring larger tickets for a potentially larger acquisition, who could contribute valuable experience in the search and transaction process as well as later in scaling the company, and with whom there was a good personal fit that could last in the long run. Finally, I balanced national and international investors, with the aim of having around half from Spain.
My investors are Aurica, Alza Capital, Orca Equity Partners, Ambit Partners, OneToOne, EPA Opportunities, Pina Capital, Scipio, Secways, Celium Capital, Luis Camilleri, Legacy Search Fund, Gallium Growth and Tres Coronas. I see them as advisors as well as financial backers in this journey and I am grateful for their trust. I look forward to working with each of them.
Unlike many searchers, who will become first-time operators after an acquisition, you bring decades of executive and operational experience. In which areas do you believe this gives you the greatest advantage—from sourcing opportunities and negotiating with sellers to leading the business after closing?
My experience brings me advantages in all parts of the project. I have built businesses from scratch, I know how hard it is to grow a company, and I also know what it takes to get an organization to move. When a founder tells me what that took, I am not hearing it secondhand. This helps me connect with founders and turns the conversation towards the business challenges rather than a process conversation. It will help us arrive at a shared, realistic ambition for the company.
From a transaction perspective, my experience running diverse businesses makes me better equipped now to assess the attractiveness of a business and a deal. My investment banking and consulting background also allows me to run an effective transaction process. Finally, once a business is acquired, it will be more natural for me to engage with the team and take the company to its next stage of growth.
Will your background influence the type of companies you evaluate? Are you targeting businesses of a different size, industries where you have deeper expertise—such as distribution—or opportunities that fall outside the typical search fund profile? What characteristics must a company have to make your shortlist? Which part of the search process do you expect to be the most challenging, and why?
I am looking for companies in the B2B services sector. I have always worked in this area, from consulting to BPO to distribution and as such I feel I can add more value in this arena, which offers a sufficiently large pool of opportunities.
The type of company I look for is in a range of €20M to €70M in revenues, with a distinctive value proposition to its customers, a strong reputation, a large share of recurring revenues and sustained profitability of €2M to €8M EBITDA over the last three years.
My objective is to find an excellent company at the larger end of my range, with a solid position in its market, that can grow internationally and can itself be a consolidator in its sector. Finding this first company, the anchor for my project, will be a first challenge, not only because of competition from private equity funds and industry consolidators, but because I need a founder who wants what I am offering.
I do offer founders a value proposition that differs from other buyers. One in which the founder can sell up to 100% of the company and step away from day-to-day management, while being reassured about its future direction. He may also stay as a shareholder and see the company grow, not only through new capabilities but also as a consolidator in its sector. It is a way to grow his legacy rather than close it.
You have served on the boards of several companies, including Spain’s largest wholesaler and distributor. How do you define the role of an effective board? And how do you plan to build your own board after an acquisition? What type of governance and support will you be looking for?
I have served on various boards but usually ones in which there is only one shareholder. This makes the dynamics much simpler, and different from those of a board with several shareholders.
However, even with a single shareholder, the role of the non-executive board members is to help management identify the right questions and open the right discussions, while understanding that their role is neither to direct nor to manage the company.
I will be creating a board of five directors composed of three investor representatives, one external board member with sector expertise, and myself as CEO. One of the other four board members will be appointed as Chairman. We will operate under a clear governance framework that defines the role of the board and of each of its members. In terms of specific support, I will be looking for perspectives on capital allocation, strategic decisions, new acquisitions and financing options among other key topics.
Having led multiple companies throughout your career, what do you see as the key drivers of sustainable value creation in SMEs? And what leadership style or management philosophy do you intend to implement as a CEO-owner?
An SME has drivers of value creation similar to those of any business. These are knowing your customer and how you can best serve their needs in a profitable manner, having a motivated, united and performing team and having effective processes for execution. These drivers should be the base for a growing business and they are exactly what we worked on in my previous companies. But in an SME there is a higher sense of urgency. Time matters more and so does each account. At the same time, each improvement can be executed faster and have a more immediate effect.
As a CEO I will rely a lot on the management team of the company I lead. It is important I acquire a company with a team that feels they can grow the business that their careers can grow with it. I aim to provide them with this opportunity and I want them to benefit from that growth alongside the shareholders. My approach to leadership is structured and horizontal. I like to make sure we all understand the direction in the same way and in enough detail for the whole team to move forward confidently, taking quick decisions supported by a shared framework. I like people to take ownership, to feel accountable and to shine with their good work and successes. I aim for a culture based on teamwork and accountability.
If you could only bring three lessons from your previous executive career into the company you eventually acquire, what would they be?
From past experience, I would bring these three:
1) A shared sense of objectives and direction across the company. The whole company must know what we aim to achieve, how we will do it and what we will gain from it. We all saw Spain win the World Cup last week. They showed how a team culture is built, with every player closely coordinated with his teammates and complete trust between them. A team of any size that can work like that in business can achieve whatever it sets out to do.
2) Accountability: everyone answers for their own work. In one of my previous companies we had a policy that when something went wrong, the first analysis each of us made was of ourselves and our own team. Too often the first reaction is to look outside, or at the department next door. As Nadal’s uncle used to say, excuses do not help you win the next match, and they do not help to build a team either.
3) Never settle for the status quo. Just because something has been done a certain way for as long as anyone can remember is not a reason not to review and improve it. Especially in this age of rapid technological change, there are substantial improvements available, and they bring new skills and new roles with them. There is often resistance to change in companies and that is understandable, because change creates uncertainty. But it can also create learning and opportunity, at any level of the company, and this sense of opportunity is what I aim to instill in the team.
Beyond financial returns, what kind of legacy would you like to leave in the company you eventually acquire—for its employees, customers, and founder?
My project is one of growth for the company I acquire. One that I will agree on with the founder from the start, and one in which he can choose to stay involved to continue his legacy if he so prefers.
The financial returns are clearly a sign of success and will reward shareholders as well as employees. They matter, but they are not the only objective.
On a personal level, my project is to connect deeply with a business, its customers and its team. I am looking for a team to build and grow a business with over the coming years. What I am looking for is growth: serving new customers, building stronger relationships with them, developing new products and services, creating new opportunities and wealth for the employees as well as the shareholders.
