Javier Faus
Javier Faus Santasusana | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 August 1964 |
| Alma mater | ESADE UAB Georgetown University |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur, investor |
| Known for | Founder of Meridian Capital Partners |
| Title | Chairman and CEO of Meridian Capital Partners |
Javier Faus (born in Barcelona, Spain) is a leading Spanish private equity investor, chairman and founder of the Barcelona-based alternative investment fund management firm Meridia Capital Partners. Very active in civic associations, he served as Vice Chairman of FC Barcelona (2010 to 2015). From july 2019 until july 2022, he chaired the Cercle d'Economia, a leading Spanish think tank that promotes liberal democracy public policies.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
He has a Law Degree from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, a Masters in International Law from Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) and an Executive MBA from ESADE Business School (Barcelona).[1]
Career
Prior to his investment career, Faus worked as an M&A lawyer in the offices of J&A Garrigues (New York City) and Cuatrecasas Abogados (Barcelona).[4]
In 2001, he led a consortium to acquire HOVISA, the real estate company that owned Hotel Arts in Barcelona (Ritz-Carlton), amongst other assets. He subsequently became president and minority shareholder for the company. In 2006 he managed the sale of HOVISA to a JV formed by Host Hotels & Resorts and GIC (Government of Singapore). This deal reached, at the time, the highest price ever paid for a single real estate asset in Spain (417 million euros).[5]
Between 2003 and 2006, Faus was managing Partner for Spain and Portugal at Patron Capital Partners, a London-based real estate fund manager.[6]
In 2006 Faus founded Meridia Capital Partner], a private equity fund management firm specialized in private equity and real estate. Its first fund, Meridia I, invested in urban hotel real estate including the W Paris Opéra Hotel, the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Santiago de Chile and the InterContinental Hotel in São Paulo. In 2014 Meridia Capital launched Meridia II (Spain; Value-add; CRE) and subsequently Meridia III (2016) and Meridia IV (2019), all with similar strategies.[6]
In 2016, Meridia Capital made initial investments in the private equity space through its vehicle Meridia Private Equity I. The fund currently has 5 portfolio companies: Sosa Ingredients, Grupo Andilana Archived 2019-07-31 at the Wayback Machine, Futbol Emotion, Volotea and Kipenzi.[7]
Additionally Meridia acts, since 2019, as exclusive advisor in Spain and Portugal for Franklin Templeton´s pan-European Social Infrastructure Fund, a fund seeking financial returns while delivering a measurable social and environmental impact.[8]
Faus is also an active business angel in the Spanish start-up arena, having invested in companies such as Cocunat, Colvin Co, AGORA Images Archived 2019-07-31 at the Wayback Machine and WorldCoo Archived 2019-08-21 at the Wayback Machine under the umbrella of Mnext Venture Capital.[9]
Between 2010 and 2014 he was a member of the board of directors at Inmobiliaria Colonial, one of the leading public Spanish Real Estate companies.[10] Since 2016 he is a member of the board of directors of Indukern, a leading Spanish pharmaceutical company.[11]
Faus has won several awards, including the 2002 Deal of the Year by International Hotel Investment Forum and the SAHIC 2011 Award for Best Investor.[6]
On July 24, 2019, Faus was elected president of the Circle of Economics. As the only candidate he was proclaimed president with 423 favorable votes, 1 vote against and one abstention. Faus announced the creation of an advisory council that would be led by the outgoing president, Juan José Brugera, and the two former presidents, the professor of the University of Barcelona, Anton Costas and the former minister of the People's Party, Josep Piqué.[12][13] He also made public that the new management board would be equally gendered: 10 men and 10 women of renowned prestige.[14]
References
- ^ a b "¿Quién es Javier Faus?". Diario GOL (in Spanish). 20 December 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ "Javier Faus, nou president del Cercle d'Economia". Vilaweb (in Catalan). 24 July 2019. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "Jaume Guardiola, elegido nuevo presidente del Cercle d'Economia con el 70,8% de los votos". Europa Press. 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Casas, Josep Maria (22 May 2019). "Faus: el hábil inversor enfrentado con Messi que conquista el Círculo". ED Economia Digital (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "Un grupo inversor compra el Hotel Arts de Barcelona por 417 millones: la cifra más alta por un edificio en España". El Economista (in Spanish). 24 July 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ a b c "Team MCP". Meridian Capital Partners. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "Faus da entrada a la francesa Savencia en Sosa Ingredients". ED Economia Digital (in Spanish). 25 November 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "Meridia se asocia con la gestora Templeton para invertir en infraestructuras sociales". The World News (in Spanish). 17 June 2019. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ Orihuel, J; Díaz, T (11 October 2016). "Javier Faus lanza Mnext y entra en Science Bits, Cocunat y Worldcoo". Expansión (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "Economía/Empresas.- Javier Faus renuncia a su puesto de consejero de Colonial para evitar conflictos de interés". Europa Press (in Spanish). 26 May 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ "Board of Directors". Web Grupo Indukern. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ Magallón, Eduardo (25 July 2019). "El Cercle reclama a la Generalitat y al Estado que inviertan en Barcelona". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ "Javier Faus, nuevo presidente del Cercle d'Economia". Europa Press (in Spanish). 24 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ Costa, Víctor (24 July 2019). "Javier Faus, el capital risc i blaugrana del Cercle". Via Empresa (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 July 2019.