29 Sep 2015

PAI Partners ("PAI"), a leading European private equity firm, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a 40% stake in Grupo Konecta ("Konecta" or the "Company"), and will be partnering with Banco Santander, retaining a 40% stake in the Company and Jose Maria Pacheco, current Chairman and founder of the business, who will keep a 20% stake. The transaction is expected to close before year end. The terms of the deal are not disclosed.

Konecta is the leading BPO and contact center service provider in Spain with significant presence in the growing Latin American markets, namely in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Argentina. The Company is expected to record revenues of c. €500 million in 2015 and has approximately 25,000 employees. It has a very strong track record of growth of 28% CAGR since 2000, and even through the recent difficult recessionary period that its home Spanish market has gone through, the Company managed to more than double its revenues and EBITDA in the past 5 years.

PAI joins Banco Santander and management with the ambition to help accelerate the growth of Konecta organically and in particular through a buy and build strategy, not only in Spain but also internationally, taking advantage of the current market fragmentation and the sound industrial rationale that drives consolidation.