On 7 June 2021 Aurica invests in Babel on a minority basis. Aurica, a firm of private equity Spanish company, has opted to buy a minority stake in Babel, a Spanish company specialising in the digitisation process of companies. The amount of the transaction has not yet been made public.
As shown in the Investment Analysis of the IT sector conducted by Baker Tilly analysts, the IT market is focused on business and technical expertise that enables organisations to create, manage and optimise or access information and business processes.
Aurica Capital is an independent asset manager based in Barcelona. Founded in 2015, it invests in the growth capital and mid-market segment, specifically in companies with a turnover between 20 and 350 million. What defines this investor is taking minority but significant stakes in companies with a clear vision of growth, such as Babel.
The Aurica team currently manages 200 million between its fund III and some co-investments. This fund, in its final investment phase, is performing well and is targeting high returns. Through it, the fund manager has already made 7 investments.
Babel has more than 1,400 employees and nine offices in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Mexico and the United States. Founded in 2003, Babel has experienced double-digit year-on-year organic growth.
In 2020 it achieved a turnover of 85 million euros after acquiring the professional services division in Spain of the German multinational Software AG in July of the same year. The objective of this integration was to place Babel among the top ten Spanish capital companies in the IT consultancy segment, reaching a turnover of more than 100 million euros in 2021 and adding more than 2,000 employees.
Aurica invests in Babel with a stake of around 30% of Babel's capital. The amount of the transaction does not exceed EUR 30 million. The purpose of the transaction is to guarantee Babel the resources it needs to grow through acquisitions, diversify its business, strengthen its business in existing locations or open new offices..
The objective of this investment is to accelerate Babel's organic and inorganic growth. Babel has thus joined Aurica's portfolio.
With regard to upstream activities, in 2020, and after receiving regulatory approvals from the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) Aurica Capital spun off from Banco Sabadell. Aurica's management team took a majority stake in the fund manager's capital. Banco Sabadell currently holds a minority stake. This operation did not change its investment strategy or the structure of its funds.
The entry of Aurica in Larrumba This is another operation carried out in 2018. This was an important boost for Larrumba, whose growth rate was complicated by the high rents of its premises.
Aurica also took a 41.5% minority stake in the share capital of STI Norland through its Aurica III vehicle, endowed with around EUR 200 million.
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