The Waterland fund manager has purchased 50% of Montronic, a Vic company specialized in manufacturing electronic components since 1997.
The operation, the price of which is confidential, has involved the purchase of the majority of the capital from David Ortega, the CEO, and the acquisition of a minority share from several private partners who prefer to remain anonymous. The remaining 50% has been left in the hands of David Ortega, who will retain the position of CEO of the firm.
The operation was signed yesterday and has the objective of boosting Montronic's growth aggressively. “Waterland is specialized in acquiring companies that operate in fragmented sectors and turning them into local leaders by acquiring their competitors,” comments David Torralba, partner at Waterland, who will be present on the board of directors.
The manager, based in the Netherlands, does not give investment figures but assures that it has financial muscle. “We operate through a vehicle that has 2.5 billion euros available to invest globally,” says Torralba.
Waterland has already detected 50 potential opportunities in Spain and hopes to close operations in the coming months. The size will vary depending on each opportunity, within a price range that can range from 1 to 15 million euros. “In France we have carried out a very similar strategy with a local operator. Therefore, we have confirmed that in the European market there is a great opportunity to create a large manufacturer of complex electronic components. The sector is better known with the high mix low volume concept, in contrast to the low mix high volume Asian companies that manufacture large volumes of simpler parts,” comments the investor.
At the moment, Montronic is a firm that has a turnover of 22 million and employs 90 people in Vic, where it plans to maintain its production center. “We work for around fifty companies linked to sectors such as industry, mobility or renewable energy,” says Ortega. The founding partners, Pere Lloansí and Marta Anglada, left Montronic last year, according to the Commercial Registry, after selling their stake to David Ortega, who before Waterland's entry controlled most of the business.
