Alantra achieved revenues of € 200.9 million (+47.6%) and net profit of € 35.0 million (+15.6%) in 2018

Balanced revenue growth in Investment Banking and Asset Management, up +47.6% to €200.9 Mn, was driven by a +47.0% revenue growth in Investment Banking, and +50.5% in the Asset Management division, both in management fees (+11.6%) and performance fees (+132.8%).

Operating expenses amounted to €140.0 Mn (+41.3%). Most of this increase in expenses is related to the incorporation of new teams and activities, including 40 Corporate Finance professionals from Alantra UK and the new Credit Portfolio Advisory team, both based in London, and a higher variable compensation directly linked to the strong performance of the business.

Net profit grew by +15.6%, reaching €35.0 Mn, driven by a +16.9% growth in the fee business (up to €30.8 Mn), €5.6 Mn from the investment portfolio (+39.2%), and a loss of €1.5 Mn from Other Results.

Alantra to maintain its strong shareholder remuneration policy: The Board of Directors will propose the full distribution of its net profit to shareholders. At the Annual General Meeting (April 2019), the Board of Directors will propose the distribution of an additional payment of €0.41 per share. Factoring in the €0.50 per share interim dividend already paid out in November 2018, shareholder remuneration will total €0.91 per share, amounting to full payout of the consolidated profit and a dividend yield of 6.2%.[1]

The Group maintained a strong balance sheet as of 31st December 2018, with €202.9 Mn of shareholders’ equity attributable to the parent, and €120.1 Mn of cash and cash equivalents.

Furthered steps towards internationalizing its advisory and asset management business by incorporating new teams and activities in Investment Banking and the announced acquisition of a strategic stake in Access Capital Partners, a leading independent European private asset manager with €8.8 Bn of cumulated assets raised during its 20-year history.

In Wealth Management, Alantra, the wealth management executives and Grupo Mutua have agreed to the acquisition of 50.01% of the share capital of Alantra Wealth Management by Grupo Mutua.

In Investment Banking, the Group expanded its global technology practice by adding a specialized team in San Francisco, strengthened its China presence by incorporating four senior professionals, acquired KPMG UK’s global loan portfolio advisory business and incorporated an Equity Capital Markets team in Italy.

Intense activity in Asset Management, with 16 investments and six divestments. In Private Equity, Alantra teamed with Partners Group to launch a secondary vehicle for the remaining portfolio of Alantra PEF II. The secondary transaction consolidated the successful track-record of Alantra PEF II, with a 2.0x return to investors. Furthermore, Alantra was one of the most active firms of the year in Iberia, having completed five investments, one add-on and three divestments.

The Private Debt team closed six investments, two add-ons and three divestments and achieved over €140 Mn of assets under management in its new fund. Alantra’s first private debt fund, Alteralia I, obtained a return of over 6% in 2018, which merited the fund to rank as the top FIL fund in its category in Spain, according to Inverco (the Spanish Association of Investment and Pension Funds).

The Real Estate business completed five investments with an aggregate equity investment of €98 Mn.

The Investment Banking division advised on a firm record 202 transactions (+8.6%), while making excellent progress in deal quality. 97 transactions were in M&A (total value of over €10 Bn), 55 were in portfolio advisory (total volume of over €38 Bn), 22 in debt advisory (over €2 Bn of new debt raised), 18 in capital markets (over €1 Bn raised) and 10 in strategic advisory.

[1] The dividend yield was calculated by dividing the dividend paid with the average closing share price during 2018 ( €14.72 per share)