In two and a half years, the holding company of the former Cirsa owner has executed more than fifteen transactions in three main areas: listed companies, real estate and alternative investments.
In two and a half years, the holding company of the former Cirsa owner has executed more than fifteen transactions in three main areas: listed companies, real estate and alternative investments.
The Spanish listed companies Merlin Properties and Sacyr, the British chain Gail’s Bakery, the US biotech company The Every Company and the Casa Seat building in Barcelona are just some of the assets in the portfolio that entrepreneur Manuel Lao Hernández has been building over the last few years through the Nortia Capital holding company.
In 2019, a year after selling the gaming machines, casinos, bingo and sports betting group Cirsa Gaming Corporation to the US giant Blackstone, in a deal valued at around 2 billion euros -including debt-, Lao boosted his business conglomerate, which already had real estate and hotel businesses, in addition to agriculture, where the olive and olive oil firm Dehesa El Molinillo is its greatest exponent. Nortia also still holds Cirsa’s gaming assets in Argentina, which were excluded from the group’s sale.
Over the past two and a half years, against the backdrop of the health and economic environment caused by the pandemic, Lao’s holding company has accelerated and diversified its activity with fifteen new transactions, the financial volume of which has not been disclosed.
The conglomerate of the Andalusian entrepreneur based in Terrassa (Barcelona) has diversification as one of its hallmarks and its objective is “to grow capital in the medium and long term”. Sources close to Nortia also highlight the company’s “clear commitment” to “entrepreneurship” and “sustainable economic development with an impact on society”.
Nortia Capital’s management includes thirty professionals distributed between the offices in Madrid and Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona). Ana Forner Beltrán, an executive with a long career in private banking and corporate banking, with experience in entities such as Degroof, UBS, Barclays and Citibank, has led the team since 2019. Forner represents Nortia on the boards of Merlin and Healthcare Activos, and is a member of the advisory board of the Catalan employers’ association Fomento del Trabajo.
Nortia’s portfolio, which does not foresee major changes in its strategy, is structured in three areas: liquid assets, real estate and alternative investments.
The first area includes shares in Merlin and Sacyr. Nortia landed in the socimi with 5% of the capital in March 2020 and in June last year raised its stake to 8.168%, which it describes as “strategic and long-term”. In the company’s recent governance crisis, although it has not pronounced itself on the matter, the board would be in favour of Ismael Clemente’s continuity as chief executive.
In the construction and concessions group, Lao’s conglomerate entered in December with the purchase of 3.05% of the capital, making it one of Sacyr’s largest shareholders.
Another of Nortia’s important investments in listed companies is its share in Healthcare Activos Yield, a socimi specialising in social and healthcare buildings, especially nursing homes, where it now holds close to 20%. The company is listed on Euronext Access in Paris and on Christmas Eve closed a deal for its sale to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund and a group of institutional investors managed by CBRE. This is likely to be Nortia’s first disinvestment in 2022.
The holding company’s liquid assets also include shares in investment funds and other financial products.
The real estate division has a long tradition in Nortia, which in recent years has given a boost to these businesses. In June 2019, the holding company bought a 37-hectare plot of land in Marbella (Malaga), with access to the beach, where it plans to develop a hundred flats and luxury homes, and in March 2020 it acquired the building where Casa Seat opened its doors three months later, on Paseo de Gracia and Diagonal in Barcelona, from local real estate company KKH.
Subsequently, in February last year, Nortia started work on two residential developments, one in Malaga, with 90 homes, and another with 25 flats in Terrassa.
In the latter city, in 2021 the hotel announced its plans for the complete refurbishment of the historic Hotel Don Cándido in order to “adapt it to the latest market trends”. The Lao establishment, which has been in business for three decades and has a four-star superior rating, has previously undergone several refurbishments, most recently in 2018-2019.
From Pulitzer to McWin
In the same sector, last October Nortia signed an alliance with the Barcelona-based Pulitzer chain to create a joint venture specialising in urban boutique hotels, with its sights set on major Spanish and European cities and under a concept of “personalised luxury”.
In terms of the alternative investments division, Manuel Lao has taken a further step in the diversification of his business by entering into activities such as food, biotechnology, infrastructure and energy.
In 2020, Nortia, together with the securities agency Key Capital Partners, backed the launch of the Spanish sustainable infrastructure fund KC Impact, which last October bought the share of the construction company OHLA in Aguas de Navarra, and, at the same time, made its debut in renewable energies with a Q-Energy fund.
Also in venture capital, Nortia joined Henry J. McGovern and Steven K. Winegar, founders, respectively, of the restaurant groups AmRest (with brands such as La Tagliatella) and Zena (a Burger King franchisee) to launch the McWin Food Ecosystem Fund in September 2021. It is a food investment platform – mainly focused on food service and food technology – that aims to transition the sector towards sustainable models. McWin launched in October with the acquisition, together with Bain Capital, of a majority share in the London-based artisan bakery and patisserie chain Gail’s Bakery.
Last month, the Nortia Capital-owned fund co-led a $175m (€154m) Series C round in The Every Company, a Californian company that creates and manufactures non-animal proteins for the food industry.
MAIN INVESTMENTS OF THE HOLDING COMPANY (2019-2021)
• Purchase of land for properties in Marbella.
• Acquisition of a share in Healthcare Activos Yield.
• Purchase of the Casa Seat building in Barcelona.
• Initial 5% investment in Merlin.
• Launch of the KC Impact fund.
• Purchase by KC Impact of the OHLA package in Aguas de Navarra.
• Entry into a Q-Energy fund.