Prosegur has gone shopping in 2016 and so far this year has made 3 acquisitions, to strengthen its cybersecurity division, a market it entered in 2014, to enter South Africa, a new market where it had no activity, and to strengthen the market for valuable goods.
Many say that the print media is dead, but in the last year we have seen acquisitions in the sector. This month we learned that the Lara family, owner of the Prisa group, bought a stake in the Cataluña newspaper and last year Heraldo de Aragón bought 20 minutos and is now considering buying 5 días. These media offer both online and print services, maybe it is a good tactic to buy cheap and boost the digital part.
After Linkedin's macro purchase of Lynda, an online training and video tutorials platform, for $1,500M, it seems that transactions in the education sector have been growing with new technologies as the main protagonist. In Spain, although we have not yet seen any large deals, we have seen some transactions in the education sector over the last year.
Portobello Capital is once again interested in the food sector and buys the Murcian company Ramón Sabater. In addition, Ebro Food, which is pursuing a policy of expansion through acquisitions, has bought the French company Celnat. Portobello buys the Murcian Ramón Sabater...
French BPO solutions provider Tessi wants to continue growing in the Spanish market and has started 2016 with the purchase of Spanish companies, first Diagonal Company and then BPO Solutions.
The Government of Navarra has approved a multiannual allocation of €26.7M for R&D projects of companies, strategic projects, Manunet II and industrial doctorates. These grants will be paid out of the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 budget years.
Adtz and UserZoom, which have made acquisitions in the last month, are two examples of Spanish companies that have made a commitment to innovation, have received the support of investors and are now betting on the international market to continue growing.
Avet Ventures has just launched its first fund to invest in innovative companies. In addition, La Caixa and the CDTI want to help boost the biotechnology sector in our country and have already made the first investment of its Caixa Innvierte Start fund, which will invest in early stage companies in the field of health.
On 8 March, Clerp, an engineering company that wants to grow in the Latin American market, was listed on the MAB as a growth company.
Corporate investment in new startups is a win-win solution for large corporations to incorporate new innovations and for startups to get the funding and expertise they need to grow their business. In an ever-changing world, companies have to constantly innovate to maintain their position in the market. At the same time, new companies are being created that develop cutting-edge products and services that require external capital to be successful. A few days ago we learned that Telefonica Open Future invested in 600 startups in 2015.
The Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism has published the calls for applications for aid for Reindustrialisation and Strengthening of Industrial Competitiveness in 2016, for which there is a financial endowment of more than €757 million. Application deadline: from 18 April to 1 June 2016.
According to a global report by PwC, renewables now account for 28% of all mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector, reaching a value of $55.300M. This figure is almost double the volume recorded in 2014. The renewables market is expected to remain active in 2016, and just this week we have learned of the purchase of four renewable energy assets by Cerberus.