Beka Finance

Beka Finance is a Spanish financial services company, created in 1989 as a subsidiary of Caja Madrid (which subsequently became Bankia). Beka Finance specializes in providing and developing financial products and services, asset management, financial advisory, investment banking and direct investment.[1]

Background and transactions

In 2013, the company was acquired by the Catalan investor group GVC Gaesco,[2] which subsequently sold the company to Gala Capital in 2020.[3]

The firm is primarily owned by its management team. The chairman is investment banker and entrepreneur Carlos Tejera, formerly a consultant at McKinsey & Company and chairman of Gala Capital. Carlos Stilianopoulos, CEO of Beka Finance, was previously president of Wholesale Banking and CFO at Bankia.

Since 2020, Beka Finance has undertaken a series of international financial transactions. In 2020, bought the Portuguese loan securitization company Sagres, which had over €6.5bn under management and was previously owned by Citigroup.[4] That year, Beka also raised €60m for its social impact fund Cuanimen.[5]

In 2021, launched the €300m Beka & Bolschare Iberian Agribusiness Fund to invest in sustainable agriculture;[6] it also created Beka Credit, a new €2.3bn lending platform.[7]

In 2022, Beka acquired the securitization fund manager Haya Titulización from US fund Cerberus,[8] with €23.2bn worth of assets under management, and agreed to buy Trea, an independent asset management firm in Spain with over €6bn under management.[9]

The firm has invested in several FinTechs: Rebellion Pay,[10] a payment service provider, and Hey Trade, an online broker. The company is also a large financial investor of Spanish musicals producer, SOM Produce,[11] founded by musical producer José Maria Cámara, and of Secuoya Grupo de Comunicación, which manages audio-visual production for Netflix in Spain.[1]

Controversies

In 2014, FCC suspended a liquidity contract with Beka Finance, coinciding with the announcement that investor George Soros was taking a stake in FCC.[12] Some media outlets have also reported that George Soros used Gala Capital, a significant shareholder in Beka Finance, as an investment vehicle  to participate in the Spanish market.[13]

In April 2021, Beka hired most of the M&A team from BNP Paribas to launch its own M&A division.[14]

In 2021, Beka appointed former Spanish Agriculture Minister and European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action Miguel Arias Cañete to its Board.[15]  To accept the role, Arias Cañete was required to request approval under Article 11 of the Code of Conduct for members of the European Commission.[16]

External links

• Beka Finance official website