The BBK Foundationwhich has 57% of the capital of Kutxabank, has presented an offer of 500 million euros for the technology division of Ayesawhich includes the old Ibermática. The Foundation of the banking entity, which comes from Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, wants to recover with this step the control it had at the time of the latter before becoming part of Ayesa.
Ibermática, in fact, was founded in 1973 by the old Basque savings banks, together with the industrial fabric of the area, with the aim of offering computer services at a business level. In 2012 Kutxabank sold 4% of the company to Once to reduce its weight in it below 50%, and the following year ProA Capital bought 55% of the consulting firm, which it later sold in its entirety to Ayesa in 2022.
It is not, however, the only entity that is bidding for Ayesa TI. There are three other finalists for the Ayesa TI sales process. The other three are. funds from Blackstone, HIG and CapVest. In addition, Colliers is interested in taking over its engineering area.
In fact, the company’s sale operation plans to sell, on the one hand, the Ayesa area dedicated to technology consulting, and on the other, transfer the company’s engineering consulting division. Each of these divisions has a valuation of 500 million euros, so Ayesa has a valuation of around 1,000 million euros.
Of the three funds that compete with the BBK Foundation to take over Ayesa TI (Blackstone, HIG and CapVest), the first two are the most interested in taking over the company’s technological area. As for the interest of the Foundation, also very high, it would mean recovering Ibermática, after Kutxabank sold it to ProA Capital. In turn, this was later passed on to one of Ayesa’s minority shareholder groups.
The loss of Ibermática, in the midst of the financial crisis, occurred when the ECB made the old savings banks, such as Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, get rid of their industrial portfolio. Now, the BBK Foundation wants to increase its weight in the business fabric of Spain, with the aim of increasing its industry portfolio until it reaches 2.8 billion euros in 2035. Currently, its weight amounts to 1,100 million euros, and it has participation in Gestamp, Iberdrola, Redeia, CAF, Vidrala, Arteche and APK2.
To this end, it is negotiating to become a shareholder in several more companies, in addition to the offer made by Ayesa TI. This It will be formally presented towards the end of next Novemberwith the aim that the entities that want to acquire it have time to specify and further adjust the offers they have already made.
