Help a start-up grow, boost the profitability of a real estate investment or finance the international leap of a Spanish company. These are some of the choices for which more than five hundred wealthy Spanish families, clients of Banca March, have chosen in recent years.
The entity chaired by Juan March de la Lastra has managed more than 1.200 million euros in co-investment products in the real economy since it launched this service in 2008. The bank actively searches and conducts an individualized analysis of attractive investment opportunities with those that their clients can diversify their investment portfolio with alternative products to the equity and debt markets.
"Beyond the stock market and debt"
Over the last few years, they have chosen bets as varied as Pepe Jeans, Mecalux, the BBVA offices on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, or the ABC Serrano shopping center in Madrid. It is about identifying alternative investments to the stock market or debt markets with which to achieve attractive returns.
The formula designed by the team of José Cloquell, director of joint investment at Banca March, is based on choosing attractive investments for its clients, in which the bank also invests. "In this way we are committed to assuming the same risks as our clients," he explains.
Because, yes, this investment model is not suitable for all audiences. It is limited by long-term risk, investments do not fall below five years and the average is around eight. But, above all, they have the handicap of illiquidity. In case of problems, it is not easy to sell the participation and recover not even part of the investment. "The investor's profile should be that of someone capable of taking the risk of losing the entire investment if things go wrong," Cloquell warns.
"You need a minimum investment of 250.000 euros"
So far, those selected have been half a thousand clients, many of them regular Banca March, all with considerable assets. The minimum investment required is around 250.000 euros, and in addition that amount must be, at most, 10% of your funds available to invest.
With all the precautions ahead, the result of the Banca March management is, so far, far from these losses. As Cloquell explained, from 2008 to now 450 million euros have been divested with a profitability that in some cases has reached 20%.
"Investment in start-ups"
The investments chosen have been very varied. In 2008, this proposal began at the hands of the Banca March Artá Capital venture capital manager. The Deyá Capital fund was created to search for Spanish mid-capitalization companies in which it entered as a majority partner. It has also bet over the years to invest in start-ups, "but only in those that already had a proven product on the market and needed capital to grow and obtain profitability," explained José Cloquell.
In addition to venture capital in mid-cap companies and innovative companies, among the sectors that most bet from Banca March are real estate, student residences and energy supply companies such as Red de Gas, among others.
