An interview with Bernar De La Hera, Partner in Spain.
Bernar, an M&A ICT specialist
“I did not come from the traditional business banking sector. Throughout my professional life, I had served in different executive positions in ICT multinational companies, and in my last stage, I was working as an independent consultant. About four years ago, a current ONEtoONE partner, former CEO of a company with whom I had collaborated, put me in contact with ONEtoONE, which wanted to incorporate a partner with a high level of knowledge of the ICT sector, since it is one of the sectors where more M & A transactions happen, but you also need a deep knowledge of it to understand the key differentiation points. Since then, I have been working at ONEtoONE as a specialist partner in ICT sector.”
M&A and the ICT industry in Spain
“Our work as partners is to help entrepreneurs make one of the most important decisions of their professional lives, which is to conduct a corporate operation, both at the time of selling it, when they are looking for investors helping in the growth phase, and when incorporating other companies to the group. This process is particularly delicate in the ICT sector, where a great part of the value of the companies is based on their people. Also, Spanish companies are especially small in this industry and have very little experience in these types of operations.
The ICT sector in Spain consists of relatively small companies with little financial capacity to deal with complex investment processes, both in terms of product (R&D) and internationalization, so if they want to continue growing, they must be integrated into larger organizations that allow them to develop their full potential.
What is happening now in Spain is the emergence of “boutique” ICT companies, with a high degree of knowledge in high growth sectors, such as Digital Marketing, Business Intelligence, IoT, Big Data and everything related to new models of B2C, which are changing the way companies and end customers communicate. Here, very interesting corporate transactions are taking place.”
ONEtoONE helps the entrepreneurs and has a global vision
“Without a doubt, what I like the most is being able to help entrepreneurs find the company that not only maximizes the value but is the right fit in terms of future development and cultural compatibility. This really makes me happy. I can say that in all the transactions that I have closed, the old shareholders continue to work in the company in a totally satisfactory way.
Besides that, ONEtoONE gives you the opportunity to exchange projects with other partners of the company worldwide. This is what gives me the most pleasure and helps us to have a more global vision of the sectors in which you work.”
Mandates Bernar is currently working on
“Currently and within the technology sector, I would to comment the following mandates:
-Service company in the sector of Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud, which is experiencing spectacular growth and is awakening a lot of interest in the market.
-Company that has developed a solution with a worldwide software leader manufacturer for SMEs and that distribute the solution through banking entities
-Company focused on the development of ePayment and security solutions, which is a sector that is currently changing very fast.”
Want to learn more about our partners? Have a look at “ONEtoONE Team” blog section!
