1. ABOUT US
The GI X GI project was born from the vision, enthusiasm and will of Jordi Bellvehí to bring together investors from Girona and Osona and companies from Girona and Osona in need of investment. In this way, you can contribute to causing a positive impact on the territory of Girona and Osonenc and its people (in the future when we talk about “Girona”, we also include Osona).
With this idea, in Jordi Bellvehí has created a platform and a network of contacts and collaborators from all areas, from the Girona counties, who must contribute to the fact that the capital of the Girona counties stays and is invested in the Girona territory and to strengthen the Girona business fabric and improve the quality of life of the people (understood as everyone who lives in the Girona Regions).
In the same way, the GI X GI Project wants to create secure channels of confidential information that allow detecting those businessmen and women who, for whatever reason, would like investors to participate in their company’s capital or, even , they would like to sell the company.
We want to contribute to the fact that there are more companies in the territory and that the companies there are strengthened and grow, organically, helping to finance growth (with direct investments in capital, with investment rounds, with the issuance of convertible bonds or credits, convertible participatory loans or other instruments, with the listing on secondary alternative stock markets, etc.) , but we also want to contribute to the fact that Girona companies grow inorganically, through acquisitions, mergers or strategic collaboration agreements (joint-ventures).
Jordi Bellvehí has considered that as a result of his knowledge of businessmen and women, professionals, business organizations, private investors with large capitals, M&A consultancies, investment funds and venture capital entities and other contacts inside and outside the Girona counties; as well as due to his experience and knowledge in M&A and Private Equity operations, he could devote, with excitement and dedication, the next years of his professional life to this romantic and supportive goal, which goes beyond the motive of profit, parallel to his other professional activities; with the appropriate structure and resources.
GI X GI PRIVATE EQUITY, S.L., is a company that has little internal structure, because it provides its services through a collaboration network with first-level professionals in Girona, both lawyers, economists, auditors, management consultants, experts, managers, etc. And with entrepreneurs and business organizations from Girona, so that, together, we contribute to improving and strengthening our business fabric and the quality of life of our people.
Jordi Bellvehí knows well what Girona’s businesswomen and businessmen are like, who love their company, their people and their land and who work not only to earn money but also to create wealth in the territory, taking into account the quality of life of their employees and collaborators. There is a Girona way of doing things and there is a Girona soul behind it, which we only know those who feel it and those who have seen it in others. We are aware and trust that in a project like GI X GI, many entrepreneurs and investors from Girona will identify with it and that they will make it become a good tool for transformation and construction, which provides added value and leaves an impact positive.
The GI X GI project goes beyond a professional project with a profit motive and, without prejudice to the fact that the services will be billed and remunerated at market price, behind it is the will to allocate part of the profit to the establishment of a foundation that helps and accompanies young entrepreneurs, young businessmen and young professionals from Girona with the idea that their projects end up being consolidated companies that have a positive impact on the Girona territory and its people.
At the same time, from GI X GI we want to claim, defend and preserve a way of doing things, in Girona, but at the same time divulge, train and promote a more modern and global, more ambitious mentality that, little by little, contributes to the fact that more Girona companies become large companies, multinationals and are a source of wealth for the Girona territory, creating more jobs with high added value, retaining and attracting talent, employing local suppliers and paying their local taxes and counties in Girona’s municipalities and counties and increasing the quality of life of the people who live there.
At GI X GI we like to work, create, add, collaborate, contribute and build, in a positive way, and thus contribute, from Girona, to making the world a better place.
2. OBJECTIVE
The GI X GI Project is born from a romantic idea consisting in the fact that the capital of Girona and Osona (onward “Girona”) is invested in companies in the Girona counties and, therefore, stays and yields in Girona, with the effect and positive impact that this has for the people of the Girona territory.
Therefore, the GI X GI Project wants to focus mainly on this objective of achieving a positive impact on the business fabric and on the people of the territory of the Girona counties.
To be able to reach this goal, professionals of the highest level of experience and technical quality, from Girona, will work in two lines:
1st) Using our contacts with people and companies in Girona who have capital to invest, so that they invest in Girona companies.
2nd) Using our knowledge of Girona’s business fabric to detect those companies that need investment to grow, for a generational change, for a temporary insolvency situation or for other circumstances and to be catalysts for the search for Girona capital to invest in them.
The essence of our activity and the added value we can provide is to connect and unite those from Girona who have capital to invest with those from Girona who need capital for their companies.
We focus solely on investment in companies and therefore do not focus on projects of start-ups, we are not business angels, nor venture capital, nor do we engage in real estate investment, nor in other alternative investments; we focus solely on investing in unlisted consolidated companies in the Girona regions; what in English we would call “Private Equity” and also “M&A”.
The professionals participating in the GI X GI Project under the direction of Jordi Bellvehí, they are already doing this activity throughout their career and in their day-to-day life; but under this project we join forces and focus our efforts in a much more determined, structured, professionalized and clear way, looking for the capital of Girona to invest in companies from Girona and looking for solutions so that those companies continue to bring value to the people and the territory.
Through this first objective of bringing Girona capital into contact with the needs of Girona companies, we seek a second, deeper objective which is to strengthen Girona companies with Girona capital, to enable the viability of Girona companies with difficulties or with needs to be able to grow, maintain living and viable Girona companies that might otherwise disappear and contribute to the fact that little by little, Girona’s business fabric is bigger and stronger and generates more wealth in the territory, allowing talented people to stay there to work and to live and attracting talent from outside and, in short, making the territory richer, improving the quality of life of its people (all the people who live in Girona counties, without any kind of discrimination, for any reason).
In the case of large operations that could not be covered with capital from Girona, we have contacts with investment funds and venture capital and can mediate in any type of operation, no matter how large; but yes, we do not want to participate and will not contribute to relocation operations and will only help find capital from outside Girona, if there is a commitment to maintain the location and the jobs.
Unlike most M&A or Private Equity consultancies, we do not set a minimum company size or minimum EBITDA to analyze projects, needs or opportunities; rather, precisely, we want to make small companies big and medium-sized ones bigger and make multinationals and if possible take the bigger ones public. We listen to any company or entrepreneur in Girona who wants to talk to us.
3. NEED TO BE COVERED
With all modesty and honesty, we consider that in Girona and Osona (onward “Girona”) there is no good consultancy specializing in the purchase and sale of companies (M&A) and in the search for sellers and buyers and in putting them in contact with each other; as well as in carrying out all the steps and procedures necessary to plan, close and execute this type of operation well.
In the same way, we believe that there is no good Girona consultancy specializing in what private capital (of individuals or companies) invest in the capital of Girona companies, either by subscribing or acquiring shares or shares, or by means of credits or convertible bonds, participatory loans or other possible instruments; what we would call it in English “Private Equity”.
We also believe that the people of Girona’s counties are very entrepreneurial and very creative and very inventive and they are also entrepreneurs and know how to create business projects and develop them very correctly, but they do not know how to grow enough, or well. There comes a time when, for various reasons, Girona companies do not continue the pace of growth as an English or American company would continue and we consider that there is a very important cultural reason here, difficult to change, but there is also a technical reason, of knowledge and trust in the advice and support in the process, in which we believe we can contribute positively. We want to help Girona companies to grow more and better, by accessing the sources of necessary financing, beyond what is bank financing. We want to contribute to making Girona companies collaborate more with each other (joint-ventures), even competing companies and, if there is a business reason to justify it, merge and become bigger and stronger. We want Girona companies to trade on secondary markets (stock exchange). We want Girona companies to be multinational.
GI X GI comes to cover this need and this business niche, but focused mainly on Capital Girona and Girona companies, because it is a project with soul and with the will to achieve a positive impact on the companies of Girona and in the territory and the people.
Girona is different. In Girona we know hot to move around. Among those from Girona, we speak the same language and have our own way of being and doing things, which imply a positive value, of which we are proud, which we must claim, maintain, cultivate, defend and apply; but also to modernize and improve, to make it more sustainable and permanent. By uniting we will be stronger. By working well we will be more sustainable and lasting. Making Girona’s business fabric stronger and more sustainable means making our territory and our country stronger and improving the quality of life of our people.
Through our professional career, we have participated in many operations in which people from the Girona counties have received large amounts of money, I mean tens of millions of euros, and their problem has become what to do with that money. Many times those people are businessmen or children of businessmen from Girona and they have the entrepreneurial spirit and would like to invest part of that money in companies from Girona and give back to the territory what it has given them. But many times these potential investors don’t know which companies to invest in and don’t know how to detect opportunities and are afraid of risk because they don’t have someone to advise them and accompany them well and in whom to trust. This must end. From GI X GI we will make sure that this ends and that capital is invested in Girona companies, but with honesty, professionalism, security, confidentiality and potential profitability. At no time will we lose sight of the viability and profitability of the projects we propose, despite the fact that we cannot guarantee any profitability or success, since investors will have to assume the risk and chance of the business projects in which they decide to invest.
The people of Girona in general and businessmen from Girona in particular love our land and our people and if we have the opportunity to do things with each other and help each other, we don’t waste it. We have to make things happen and more opportunities arise. Our main strength is the people and at GI X GI we are well prepared local people. But at the same time it’s not purely about solidarity or romanticism, it’s about investment and investors want security and profitability and we’re very clear about that, and that’s why we analyze opportunities and don’t recommend to investors what we don’t consider that be an investment opportunity.
We find ourselves in our day-to-day situations of companies that are doing well and can continue to do well, but want to sell for different reasons, such as a generational change, lack of family continuity, an illness of the owners, inability to cope only the growth that the company requires, etc. From GI X GI we want to give an outlet to these situations and help sell those companies or find investors and thus ensure that companies in Girona do not close and that they remain in their location and jobs are maintained and synergies are maintained with other companies in the territory. This is needed and we will do this.
First of all, when a businessman or businesswoman from Girona wants to sell his company or needs private investment, we will always look for private investors and companies from Girona who want to buy it or who want to invest in it in some other alternative way to the acquisition shares or shares. But if we do not find investors from our regions, we will look for investors from outside, but who guarantee the maintenance of the location and the jobs, thus contributing to the fact that the sale does not harm the territory and its people, but quite the opposite, that contribute to strengthening it (before a Girona company closes, if we can’t find Girona investors who can save it, it’s better to find one from outside while maintaining the location).
Jordi Bellvehí has a lot of experience in this type of successful operations for the territory, where the buyer is foreign, but not only the maintenance of the location is guaranteed but the jobs are guaranteed and more investment and growth is guaranteed, with all the positive impact it has on the territory, not only for workers, but for suppliers, advisers, collaborators, councils, etc. To give just one of many examples, if we look at the Pla de l’Estany region, they are cases of success of this type the sale of INOXPA, S.A. (sold in Italian capital), MILLA MASSANA, S.A. (MIMASA, sold in American capital), JUNCÀ GELATINES, S.L. (sold in Italian and Catalan capitals). These three companies mentioned, all for different reasons, had to be sold, but all three have not only maintained the location and brand and local suppliers, but have grown and strengthened, hired more people, and all three are leading companies in their sectors, being a source of pride for the people who work there, for the municipalities where they are based and for the Region to which they belong. The reality of Girona and Catalonia is that the sum of medium-sized companies like these is the main source of wealth for the territory and quality of life for the people. It is very worthwhile to put focus, effort and dedication to make more examples like these repeat in our counties.
But we also have examples of the ones we like best, which are those in which the investment capital is from Girona or, at least, from Catalonia. Thus we have examples in which Jordi Bellvehí has intervened as PRAQ, S.A. (Sils). We could give many examples from the agri-food sector, especially from the pig sector, in which large Girona family businesses (most of which have their origin in a village butcher’s shop), have acquired other smaller businesses and strengthened and strengthened themselves, having inorganic growth and moving to a vertical integration that goes from sow and fattening farms, through the slaughterhouse and slaughterhouses, to the companies producing cooked and sausages and pre-cooked dishes, etc. We have two clear examples in the Noel (Olot) and Cañigueral (Cassà de la Selva) groups, among others.
Another case of success that we find in the Girona regions and to which we must also pay attention, is that of Girona companies that have no other choice but to file for liquidation and a third company or investors acquire the unit productive and save it, making it viable and sustainable, with investment and a different strategy. As examples in which Jordi Bellvehí has also participated, we have the case of CASADEMONT (acquired by the Costa Group) and that of FRIDASA acquired by the Cañigueral Group.
But, in addition, we also find extraordinary cases in which companies from Girona acquire foreign companies, mainly in France and other European countries, but also in other continents (for example Mexico, Brazil and Chile or even from the States United States of America) and we also want to promote this and help with the experience we also have there; with the collaboration with local professionals in the country where the acquired company is domiciled. That Girona companies decide to acquire or set up companies in other countries and, even, other continents, is a very positive and important fact, which must be promoted and thus contribute to the more global and multinational character that is appropriate that every time have more companies from Girona. We have several examples of this assumption, as is the case with ANTEX, INOXPA, COMEXI and others.
From GI X GI we not only want to be attentive to all these possible cases, but we want to contribute to the fact that they happen and that they are done well and always trying to have the best impact for the Girona territory and its people (all the people who live in counties Girona, without any kind of discrimination, for any reason).
4. CASES OF SUCCESS
Below are some successful cases in which Jordi Bellvehí has intervened as an advisor/consultant:
1. SOLER & PALAU (Ripoll) [Venda del 50% del capital a la família Palau]
2. METALÚRGICAS DOMINGO SA (Forallac) (Sale of 100%).
3. TRIAS GALETES I BISCUITS, S.A. (50% sale to a family branch).
4. MOLLERUSA SLAUGHTER (SPRING) [compra del 100%].
5. BUENOS LIBERTO, S.A. (sale of all assets in bankruptcy).
6. FUNERARIA DE JESUS, S.L. (66% sale)
7. FRIGORÍFICOS DE L’EMPORDÀ, S.A. (purchase of production unit by the Cañigueral Group).
8. CASADEMONT, S.A. (sale of production unit to the Costa group, Jordi Bellvehí as Bankruptcy administrator).
9. EMBOTITS MONT SL (purchased by NOEL ALIMENTARIA SAU).
10. CASA BONA SL (purchased by NOEL ALIMENTARIA SAU).
11. HERMANOS FONT VERDAGUER SL (sale of production unit in a competition).
12. TELECONNECT, S.L. (three investment rounds).
13. BITCARRIER SL (purchase of technology company by WORLDSENSING, S.L.).
14. FERRER LOGISTICS, S.L. (sale to the ONDARA LOGÍSTICA SL group).
15. PLUSVALUE MARKETING SERVICES SL (purchase of 100%).
16. GERMANS CUMBRIU SL (purchase of the production unit in a competition).
17. JULIÀ GRUP SL (sale of 51% of the capital to an investment fund).
18. INOXPA, S.A. (100% sale in Italian capital).
19. MILLA MASSANAS SLU (MIMASA) (100% sale to American capital).
20. SALAMAÑA MOTOR, S.L. (production unit sale).
21. JUNCÀ GELATINES SL (90% sale to majority Italian capital).
21. JUNCÀ GELATINES SL (90% sale to majority Italian capital).