Change Capital Partners to consolidate Spanish electro-domestic distribution and to create new national champion

Change Capital Partners, a leading pan-European private equity firm specialising in retail and consumer industries, has acquired four regional electro-domestic distributors in Spain to create a national leader in this market. In a market transforming deal, four separate companies, Radio Castilla, Condigesa, UCASA and Grupo Noain, will be merged to create Spain’s leading purchaser, distributor and retailer of household electrical appliances.

Under the terms of the transaction, a holding company owned by Change Capital Partners has acquired the four businesses and will execute a four-way merger to form the largest domestic electricals group in the country, with annual purchases of around €500m and total retail sales approaching €1bn. The merged companies will form the largest integrated store network in Spain with 116 own stores, in addition to more than 1,600 franchised stores, operating under the brands of Master Cadena and Idea.

 Iñigo Perez Corella, currently Director General of Grupo Noain became CEO of the newly created Group on completion of the deal.  All the current shareholders of the participating companies have re-invested some €20m in the new holding company, demonstrating their belief that the enlarged group will be better able to prosper in an increasingly competitive environment. Federico Aenlle and Dionisio Biot, selling shareholders and CEOs of Idea and Radio Castilla respectively will support the new company as President and Vice President of the supervisory board.

 In recent years the purchasing and retail groups in the electro-domestic arena have become increasingly concentrated throughout Europe. In contrast, the Spanish market is fragmented, with a large number of independent regional groups and local purchasing platforms.  The merger of these four leading companies in Spain will reshape an industry and place the newly formed group at the forefront of consolidation. It will create the market leader in mid-sized retail stores (800m² – 2,000m²). Change Capital and the merger partners believe that this transaction will be highly attractive to the companies’ franchise partners, enabling the sharing of best practice across the group and the reduction of purchasing costs.  This will ensure that all their franchisees and customers benefit from the merger and will pave the way for further consolidation. 

Stephan Lobmeyr, Partner at Change Capital Partners said: “This consolidation of the Spanish electrical distribution market plays to the strengths of Change Capital Partners, with Luc Vandevelde’s and Roger Holmes’ extensive experience in this area. We are confident that we can create a better and more efficient market player that will create value for both our franchise partners and consumers in Spain.”

Iñigo Perez Corella, Director General of Grupo Noain, said: “We have been reviewing our strategic options in light of the new formats entering the market.  We are firmly of the view that consolidation between leading players, creating real synergies and greater opportunities to partner with manufacturers is the right way forward and are delighted that Change Capital Partners will help us in being a step ahead of our competition.”

For further information please contact:

Stephan Lobmeyr                       Change Capital Partners   +44 207 808 9110

Gill Ackers/James Olley               Brunswick Group LLP       +44 207 404 5959