This is a venture capital coinvestment through Capital Expansió and Caixa Innvierte Industria funds. The funding will enable the company to undertake an ambitious growth and internationalization plan, boost its production capacity by 66% and ramp up its turnover by more than 50% in the next three years.
ICF and La Caixa have signed a coinvestment deal to fund the growth and internationalization plan of Catalan chemical company Plásticos Compuestos. The coinvestment comes within the framework of a round of venture capital funding totalling €5 million, to which the company's founding team has also contributed.
ICF and La Caixa have invested via the Capital Expansió and Caixa Innvierte Industria funds. Capital Expansió is a vehicle managed by ICF Capital, the ICF's venture capital operator. Caixa Innvierte Industria is a vehicle managed by Caixa Capital Risc, La Caixa's venture capital operator.
Plásticos Compuestos is a family-run company in fine chemicals sector focused on designing and managing master batches, additives and other components for the plastics industry.
The company currently exports 60% of its production and it has launched an ambitious growth plan to increase its international business. Among other goals, it plans to ramp up its production capacity by 66%.
The company will invest €7 million in boosting production capacity for current products, building new production lines for new products, and conducting R&D for processes and logistics. As a result, it expects to create 12 new jobs.
The new funding will enable the company to strengthen capitalization and undertake this ambitious growth plan aimed at growing turnover by more than 50% in the next three years.
About Capital Expansió
Capital Expansió is a venture capital fund of Institut Català de Finances (ICF), through which this Catalan public financial institution facilitates access to funding and co-invests in Catalan companies with considerable growth potential.
With a total investment volume of €20 million, the fund co-invests with other private investors — via participative loans and/or equity — in medium-sized companies with growth, consolidation and internationalization projects.
The investment in Plásticos Compuestos is the fund's second operation. Capital Expansió is also invested in Aïta, a fashion accessories company.
About Caixa Innvierte Industria
Caixa Innvierte Industria is an investment vehicle created with the involvement of the Centre for Technological Industrial Development (CDTI), under the umbrella of the Innvierte programme, in which ICF has a minority stake. With a total investment volume of €35 million, the fund invests in companies based in Spain that operate in the sphere of industrial technologies with a strong technology and internationalization component.
Plásticos Compuestos is the fund's ninth investment. At present, Caixa Innvierte Industria's portfolio includes Xtraice, a company specialising in the development and marketing of ecological ice rinks; Pevesa, which uses biotechnology to develop vegetable proteins for application in ecological agriculture and food; Forest Chemical Group, which manufactures thermostable industrial adhesives; Fast Drinks, which makes self-heating cans; Stinser, which offers integrated management of steel as a raw material for industries such as automobiles and white goods; Scutum, which has created a new concept of electric scooters; Nanogap, a company that develops and produces nano-particles with applications in various industries; and Tecalum, a specialist in the production of aluminium parts for a number of industries.
About Plásticos Compuestos
Plásticos Compuestos, based in Palau-Solità i Plegamans (Vallès Occidental district), reported turnover of over €25 million in 2014, and exports 60% of its production, mainly to the European Union and Africa.
The company has a strong commitment to the environment, which is why it is developing a product line based on calcium carbonate, a chemical compound that helps reduce the polymer in the production of plastics, thereby improving the CO2 footprint and reducing manufacturing costs by more than 40%
Furthermore, Plásticos Compuestos is a coordinator of Greenavoid, a joint project between companies in Europe aimed at developing new solutions to prevent environmental degradation.