According to data from Capital&corporate, During 2013, a total of 90 corporate transactions were carried out in the Spanish ICT sector with a total of €406M invested. Of note for their size was the purchase of the 79% from Arsys by 1&1 140M and the purchase of the 30% from softonic International  by Partners group.

Financial investors: more but smaller deals

Baker Tilly International's financial investors have been leading the 72% of the corporate operations (65 transactions) materialised in 2013, with the remaining 28% in the hands of industrialists (25 transactions), i.e. companies buying other companies.

The total recorded investment amounted to €406M. If we remove from the list the aforementioned purchase of Arsys and the purchase of Softonic, the amount invested is reduced to €184M. The average amount invested by the industrial investor was €4.3M compared to €2.8M for the financial investor.

"In our opinion, the industrial investor will play a very important role in the acquisition of companies in the ICT sector. At a time when money is scarce, the ability to provide greater synergies vis-à-vis the investors The difference in the amount of the financial assistance will enable them to enter on better terms. The difference in the amount of investment This is because industrialists tend to enter at more advanced stages and therefore in larger companies, and they tend to prefer acquisitions to expansions," comments Diego Gutierrez, an expert in alternative financing at Abra Invest.

In which activities has the most investment been made?

According to a study by OnetooneThe Internet SaaS, B2C and Softwarehouse activities accounted for 69.4% of the normalised investment (€127.8M). Internet SaaS attracted the most deals and investment, 28 deals and 24.7% of the normalised investment (€127.8M). investment (€45.5m). These include the Valencian company Peer Transfer (an e-payment platform specialising in the education industry) which has received €5M, TaskHub (an online platform that allows its users to outsource tasks or small jobs to trusted companies or people living in their community) which has received €1M or Qustodio (an online parental control platform) which has received €770k in its first funding round.

B2C accounted for 11 operations and 23.7% of the normalised investment (€43.7M). In the SME segment, it is worth highlighting the capital increase 9M in the company "El Armario de la Tele", an e-commerce platform dedicated to the sale of fashion brands linked to television programmes or characters, which has been subscribed, among others, by Atresmedia. We can also mention the €2M injection in "La Nevera Roja", a Spanish home-delivery food portal.

Finally, the Softwarehouse sub-sector recorded 11 deals and received €38.7M, 21% of the normalised investment. Among others, it is worth highlighting the purchase by the Catalan company Scytl of the Brazilian company OAK Soluçoesspecialising in electoral technology and digital certification, as part of its strategy of
international expansion.

What size and type of operations has been invested in?

It is worth noting that the average investment, excluding the two largest deals, in millions of euros, was €0.5M in start-ups, €2.3M in small companies (up to €5M turnover), €6.6M in medium-sized companies (between €5-20M) and €11.1M in large companies (over €20M).

Capital increases accounted for 62.2% of transactions and channelled 70.7% of normalised investment, and were the major players in 2013 as a mechanism for financing growth. Startups accounted for 55.41TTP1T of the capital raised, but received only 10.8% of the funds. The large company raised €42M in capital increases in three deals: Plenummedia (digital marketing for SMEs), IG Internet Brazilian Investements (online travel agency) and Privalia (private online shopping club).
The buy-sell transactions were very evenly spread among investors, with industrials accounting for 4 transactions compared to 6 by financiers. Of the latter, 4 were undertaken by the same international private equity firm, which invested a total of €33.2m in softwarehouse companies. 

Other posts that may interest you

Telecoms step up investment through venture capital funds

Investing in Educational Technology: less money for more operations

Spanish Venture Capital invests in Games Tics

If you want to know more or if you think we can help you, do not hesitate to contact us.