The Spanish State Secretary for Economy and Business Support, Irene Garrido and ICO Chairman Pablo Zalba, today inaugurated the ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of AXIS, ICO's Venture Capital Management Company. The company was the first private capital management company in Spain and one of the reference entities in the sector.
Since its creation, AXIS has promoted private capital as an alternative means of financing to bank financing for Spanish companies, improving their capitalisation, driving innovation, entrepreneurship and internationalisation.
Furthermore, it serves as a reference in terms of driving and developing private capital in Spain and currently manages €2 billion via three funds: Fond-ICO Global, Fond-ICO Pyme and Fond-ICO Infraestructuras.
As part of this ceremony, Irene Garrido highlighted that ¿ICO and AXIS have been and continue to be essential stakeholders in the reform process under way. Their role has been undeniably important in achieving the essential goal of diversifying the sources of financing and driving venture capital in Spain¿.
In turn, ICO Chairman Pablo Zalba has asserted that ¿Axis was a pioneer in the development of this model of financing and continues to set the benchmark in terms of driving and developing private capital in Spain, managing €2 billion.
Furthermore, through Fond-ICO Global, it has mobilised investment of around €4.4 billion in Spanish companies, which will undoubtedly improve the productivity of these companies, ensure economic growth and create employment.
As part of this ceremony, an impact assessment on the role of Fond-ICO Global as a private fund of funds on the Spanish private capital market was presented.
The assessment demonstrates that the launch of Fond-ICO Global kicked off the widest-reaching public programme to support private capital implemented in Spain to date. This report indicates that if Fond-ICO Global were to maintain current investment parameters, it may have helped to finance investments in almost 900 companies since the creation of the Fund through to 2024.
Fond-ICO Global was implemented in 2013 and since its creation, it has approved investments in a total of 48 new private funds for a sum of more than €1.1 billion. This represents an injection of €4.4 billion in Spanish companies.
The funds that Fond-ICO Global has invested in have in turn invested up to €1 billion in more than 200 Spanish companies that provide employment for over 50,000 workers.
Interest amongst foreign investors in participating in Fond-ICO Global is significant, given that 30% of the funds selected from the first seven rounds are international.
These figures are a testament to the success of the initiative, which in a short space of time has transformed and revitalised the landscape of Spanish private capital.
Different experts in the sector were also in attendance at the ceremony, debating the evolution of private capital in Spain and the outlook for the future; different companies that have been supported by AXIS over the last thirty years were also present to share their stories.
In the coming days, AXIS will launch the eighth round for the selection of new funds.
In addition to Fond-ICO Global, AXIS also manages two other funds: Fond-ICO Infraestructuras, which finances long-term infrastructure projects and facilitates the internationalisation process of Spanish companies; and, Fond-ICO Pyme, which finances the expansion plans and technological development of SMEs.
ICO has also received financing as part of the EU's Juncker Plan through a loan of €300 million from the European Investment Fund and from the European Investment Bank for investment via Fond-ICO Global and Fond-ICO Infraestructuras. It is the first national development bank to have obtained financing under the Juncker Plan and these two funds have become the reference investment vehicles of this Plan in Spain.
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