Senior staff leave in further blow for Ibersuizas

Susannah Birkwood
24 March 2011

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Ibersuizas dealt itself a further blow yesterday afternoon by dismissing four of its company’s remaining executives.

The termination of the contracts of investment directors Carlos Dolz de Espejo and José Antonio Urquizu and associates Raúl Cánovas and Juan García is the latest in a string of controversies to have beset the Spanish investor since last October.

A source close to the matter said that the firm had dismissed the men in order to put in place a new management team, after it was left with only one partner, Jorge Delclaux, following a legal dispute with four of the investor's former partners. It was recently announced that Ibersuizas' two main funds, Ibersuizas Capital Funds I and II, would be transferred to the former partners Ramón Cerdeiras Checa, Fernando Chinchurreta Bollaín, Juan Luis Ramirez Belaustegui and Iñigo Sánchez-Asiaín Mardones, who established rival fund manager Portobello Capital several weeks ago. Former Ibersuizas partner Luis Peñarrocha also joined the firm, despite not being involved in the legal row.

Cerdeiras has dismissed claims however that Ibersuizas' latest casualties were motivated by any allegiance to Portobello's team, and denies that the four executives intend to work for his firm. "This was an autonomous decision taken by Ibersuizas," he stated. "It has nothing to do with Portobello Capital."

Despite the uncertainty regarding Ibersuizas' management structure, the mid-market specialist will continue to manage its €130m Inversiones Ibersuizas Sociedad Anónima vehicle, which owns stakes in Inova Capital, the Nordkapp Group, production company Vértice 360 and nutritional specialist Natraceutical.