All our partners have had previous careers at a number of the world’s leading investment banks and have worked for many years in the world’s major financial centres. The majority of partners have held leadership positions in those institutions. Partners play a leading role in deal execution as well as deal origination and we place significant emphasis on recruiting exceptionally able employees below partner level. The team of partners is supported by a team of up to 15 Directors, Managers Analysts and support staff, all drawn also from leading investment banks and global financial services groups.
José joined SOCIOS in 2006 following fifteen years in corporate finance at Merrill Lynch, both in London and New York and at Deutsche Bank in Madrid.
José has worked on many M&A and capital markets transactions with most of the large Spanish financial institutions including Banco Santander, BBVA, La Caixa/Bankia and
Banc Sabadell as well as quoted companies such as Endesa, Repsol, Telefónica and Naturgy.
At SOCIOS, José is developing the firm’s relationships with his longstanding blue-chip clients and is also developing new relationships with clients in the food, health, security
and renewable energy sectors, amongst others. In recent years, he has worked on numerous transactions involving local and international private equity groups.
Born and bred in Valencia, José brings to the firm particular access to clients from the Levante region of Spain.
José Antonio joined SOCIOS in 2007 and, before this, he was the responsible partner of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance since 2002, and partner of Corporate Finance since
1999. Prior to this, he spent 6 years at the Investment Banking Division of ABN AMRO Bank in the headquarters of the entity in Amsterdam. He has also worked for Credit
Lyonnais and AB Asesores.
José Antonio specializes in advisory work including public and private M&A transactions and valuations for both listed and non-listed firms. He has advised IBEX 35 companies,
private and family-owned companies as well as international corporations in their growth and development plans inside and outside Spain. In addition, he has led a number of
domestic transactions with private equity firms both in the sell and buy side.
José Antonio speaks English, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese fluently.
José Antonio has 30 years of investment banking experience.
Laura joined SOCIOS in 1997, having previously worked in corporate finance at Calyon and Westdeustche Landesbank. She was made a Partner in 2003.
Laura advises on domestic and cross border transactions across a broad range of sectors: education and training, food & beverages sector, household and personal care, retail
(apparel and foodservice) and engineering. In addition, she has broad experience in search mandates and capital raising. She has worked for clients such as: Inspired
Education Group, Laboratorios Almond, Calidad Pascual, Cafento, Asturbega, Quimi Romar, Cantabria Labs, Lateral, Café y Té, Bimba y Lola, Cortefiel, IDP, Isastur and
private equity clients such as PAI, CVC, Permira, Artá Capital, ProA, Nazca, BlueGem and Realza Capital.
Laura also supervises the firm’s transaction teams.
She holds a BA in Business Administration by Babson College (USA) and an MBA from Instituto de Empresa (Spain).
Mark is a British national and joined SOCIOS in 2002 following ten years in London / Hong Kong within the corporate finance teams at HSBC, Natwest Markets and Hawkpoint.
He advises on both domestic and cross-border transactions across a broad range of sectors with a focus on private equity related transactions. With over 30 years’ M&A experience, Mark has completed approximately 250 deals for multinationals, listed groups, family-owned businesses and private equity funds, having advised most of the latter active in the Spanish market.
Mark holds a first class honours degree in International Banking & Finance, together with the Securities Institute Diploma.
Nick co-founded SOCIOS in 1991 and was Joint Managing Partner of the firm for 30 years with Teo Millán. Previously he was Country Head for the Iberian Peninsular for Citicorp Investment Bank and a Vice-President in the M&A Group at Bank of America, in London. Nicholas moved back to London in 2013 to focus on developing relationships with the Firm’s 45 international Oaklins partner firms.
Amongst his credentials, Nick designed and led the first Public To Private transaction to take place in the Spanish stock market, the first successful hostile takeover of a UK quoted company by a Spanish investor and advised on (at the time) Spain’s largest ever disposal by a private equity firm.
Nick has served and continues to serve on a number of boards of directors of multinational companies based in the UK and Portugal. These include BP Marsh and Partners Plc, a multinational private equity group, and Ardingly College, part of the Woodard Corporation, one of the UK’s largest educational charities. He is also Chairman of Annabel Walker Properties Lda, an Algarve based residential property developer, and a member of the Advisory Board of Monsanto Capital in Lisbon.
Bosco co-founded SOCIOS in 1991, having previously worked as Corporate Finance Director at Benito & Monjardín, S.V.B.
Bosco has advised a wide range of national and international companies, focusing particularly on the following areas: financial services (Agrupació Mutua, Crédit Lyonnais,
Corporación Caja Madrid), food and beverage (Grupo Larios, Grupo Navidul, Compass Group, Bodegas CVNE), construction and real estate (Uralita, Inmobiliaria Osuna,
Grupo Inmocaral), diversified holding companies (CF Alba, Corporación IBV, JP Morgan Partners, Sapec Group) and others including both domestic (Funespaña, Grupo Lledó)
and international clients (Philips BV). Bosco joined the team advising Colony Capital’s entry in Inmobiliaria Colonial and Grupo Multiasistencia’s sale to Portobello Capital.
Bosco holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration for the Universidad Comercial de Deusto (Bilbao).
Teo is a Founding Partner and is now retired from the Firm. With two executives from his team at Benito y Monjardin, SVB, where he had been General Manager since its foundation, and together with Nicholas Walker, Teo became a founding partner of the firm in 1991. Having studied Economics, he obtained a PhD at the University of Minnesota (USA) and has been a professor and researcher in different academic institutions. Teo retired from the firm in 2021 having been Joint Managing Partner with Nicholas since its foundation, having participated in all areas of the firm’s development and management, and leading execution teams in transactions. He maintains close links with the firm and collaborates in various initiatives and transactions from time to time. Teo is currently Non-Executive President of Urquijo Gestión S.A.,S.G.I.I.C., the private banking arm of Banco de Sabadell. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Briz Jurídico Tributario, S.A. and Gastón y Daniela, S.A. He is founder and member of the Management Committee of the Instituto de Capital Riesgo, INCARI.
François is a French national, who joined SOCIOS in 2003 having previously worked for Hawkpoint Partners in London between 1999 and 2003 and for Societex in Paris in
1999.
He has acted as the transaction team leader on the following transactions: The disposal of Grupo BC to Silver Lake and, previously, to L-Gam, the acquisition of Lexer by
Grupo BC, advise the management team of Accelya on the acquisition of the company by Vista Equity Partners and, previously, by Warburg Pincus, the disposal of Gestair to
GPF Capital, the disposal of Lateral to BlueGem, the disposal of Restauravia to Amrest; the disposal of Multiasistencia to Ibersuizas; Colony Capital’s acquisition of Goldman
Sach’s debt position in Inmobiliaria Colonial; Parques Reunidos’ acquisitions in France, UK, Norway and USA; the disposal of Parques Reunidos to Candover; the acquisition of
Mémora by 3i Group Plc; the acquisitions of Dielectro Balear and Dimel Castilla by Sonepar Ibérica; the acquisition of Coges (Italy) by Azkoyen; the disposal of three Spanish
subsidiaries of Masco.
Francois is Head of the firm’s Financial Analysis Department.
François has a Master’s degree from EM Lyon Corporate Finance Master program and degree from Bordeaux Graduate Business School.
Santiago joined SOCIOS in 2014. Previously, he worked at Deloitte’s financial advisory team in Madrid and the private equity division of Inveravante.
He has led a wide range of transactions for both private equity clients, including Alantra, Artá Capital, Chequers, Cinven, Collins Capital, Columna Capital, HIG, Nazca and PAI
Partners, as well as industrial clients such as Bleckmann, Cinfa, Comsa-Emte, Domus Vi, Endeka, Energy House, Grupo Isastur, Grupo Hemosa, Mutua Madrileña, Inspired
Education Group, Eurocebollas, Palex Medical, Printeos, Royo Group, Sanitas, SAPA Group and Torrecid. Santiago has particular expertise in industrial sectors, ranging from
labels, plastic packaging, automotive components, food industry and natural ingredients to bathroom furniture, tiles and other building materials. He also has transaction
experience in engineering services, logistics, mobility services, nursing homes and medical equipment distribution. In the label and packaging sectors, Santiago led acquisitions
for one of the leading European label manufacturers in Spain, the UK and France, and he also coordinated the sale of a number of plastic packaging companies to strategic
investors, including Jokey Group and Envaplaster.
Santiago has a postgraduate degree in banking and finance from the Universidad de A Coruña together with a business administration diploma