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Akerton Partners has advised the company Nemesis on the sale of its photovoltaic plant

Akerton Partners has advised the company Nemesis on the sale of its 3MW photovoltaic plant located in Murcia to a fund specialized in renewable energies

Akerton is a financial advisory firm with expertise in renewable energy.

The Spanish Photovoltaic solar energy sector.

Spain has historically been dependent on fossil fuels (according to the Energy Supply Security in Southern Europe and Ireland 74% of the energy generated in Spain came from fossil fuels). The Government implemented subsidies to encourage renewable energy and, specifically, photovoltaic solar energy. These grants were guaranteed by the Spanish government and they led to a high increase in solar MWh produced. By 2007 Spain, because of its favorable climate conditions, was one of the European countries with the highest number of hours of solar radiation but also was one of the European countries with the lowest solar energy production¹. Because of this, the Government focused on this type of energy mainly. In addition, the decrease in the cost of solar panels made this technology very attractive.

Map of climatic zones in Spain

Source: Atlas of solar radiation in Spain, Instituto de Meteorología.

The EU supports the potential change to lower carbon emissions through ruling in favor of renewable energies. In particular, in 2009, the European Union Directive 2009/28/EC was approved. This Directive set the goal that 20% of the EU’s energy consumption should be generated by renewable energies in order to produce less polluting energy.

The Spanish solar energy sector experienced large growth in the following years. In 2007 photovoltaic production was assumed to be 152MWh, while in 2010 it reached 3.842MWh and in 2018 4.744MWh2.

In 2011 Spain reached third place among the countries with the highest solar energy production in Europe, but, despite these results, the Spanish executive decided to make a change in policy which weakened support for solar energy³. This resulted in the widening of the gap between generation costs and revenues collected through tariffs, increasing the tariff deficit. In 2012, given the excessive government debt, this grant system for solar energy was eliminated. And, by that time, the share of fossil fuels had fallen, considerably, to 52%.

Photovoltaic solar power generated in Spain

Source: Renewable energy Statistics, 2019.

The effects of the cancellation of the grant system were significant. Although installed capacity continued to grow, it slowed down (from 2014 onwards the annual growth rate was between 0.15% and 0.40%). As a result , investors neither received a return on capital invested nor were they able to amortize debt. Many of these investments were made on a project finance bases.

When analyzing the evolution of installed capacity per Autonomous Community, Castilla-La Mancha is the region with the most solar power installed capacity (20%) followed by Andalucía, Extremadura and Castilla y León. These four communities represent c. 60% of total installed capacity. On the other hand, the Autonomous Communities with the least installed capacity are those with less hours of sun such as Asturias, Cantabria, Ceuta and Melilla, Galicia and País Vasco.

In 2019 the self-consumption decree was implemented (RD244/2019) and the number of installations grew by 80% from 2017 but the increase in installed capacity was only 40%, which indicates that most of the installations in 2018 were small. The autonomous communities with the largest number of self-consumption installations are Catalonia, Andalucía and Galicia (in that order).

In 2020, the Unión Española Fotovoltaica (UNEF)4 supported the approbation of the Royal Decree to encourage photovoltaic sector in order to attract 20M€ of private capital necessary to meet The Energy National and Climate Plan (PNIEC by its Spanish initials).

Lali de Juan, Head of M&A



¹ España, la clave del sector solar europeo, Cinco Días, May 2019.
2 Source: Spanish Photovoltaic Solar Energy: Institutional Change, Financial Effects, and the Business Sector. 2020.
³ Source: Spanish Photovoltaic Solar Energy: Institutional Change, Financial Effects, and the Business Sector. 2020.
4 España, la clave del sector solar europeo, Cinco Días, May 2019.

Cristina Armijo

Cristina has a bilingual degree in Business Administration from CUNEF.

In 2018 she began her professional career at Inicia Corporate providing financial advisory services to different companies.

A year after graduating, she joined Banco Santander in the investment banking area, in the Global Transaction Banking Continental Europe department.

In 2020, she joined Ahorro Corporación in the department of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

In 2021, she started working in the Financing department at Akerton Partners.

Alice Cadet

Alice holds a degree in Franco-Spanish Business Administration from the universities of ICADE and NEOMA Business School, specializing in Corporate Finance. She has completed financial courses in Spain and France.

In 2017 she joined Teva Pharma‘s financial department offering accounting services, payment and collection management, and operational flow analysis.

In 2018 she joined the M&A team of SD Partners as a financial analyst, in which he performs valuation tasks of technology startups and industrial property, search for financing and operations of mergers, acquisitions and spin-off.

In 2020, she joined the Corporate dept of Akerton Partners.

Olga González

Olga holds a degree in Bilingual Economics from the University of Oviedo. After completing her studies in July 2019, she joined an estate administration in Gijón where she worked in accounting, payment management, taxes and customer service.

At the end of 2019 she joined the Forensic department at Akerton Partners.

Arantxa Jiménez

Arantxa holds a degree in English Philology from the University of Alcalá de Henares. She has completed several accounting and finance courses at CEF and various language courses such as French or Italian.

In 2000 she joined the Fiat Group in Spain, becoming part of Fiat Ibérica, head of the Group in Spain.

In 2005 she joined Bergé Automotive Logitics where she carried out much of her work in the area of road transport insurance.

In 2013 she joined Akerton Partners.

Borja Hernández

In 2008 Borja began his career at Cajamar Bank as a private banking manager. In 2011, he joined the administrative department of Akerton Partners, S.L.In addition, he supports the different lines of business of the company (Back Office).

In 2017 he became part of the team of Annu Inversiones, S.L., where he participated in various transactions of assignment of receivables, loans and debt purchase.

Alberto Barquín

Alberto holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from the Carlos III University of Madrid, additionally he holds a Master’s degree in Higher Accounting from the U.N.E.D and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Management with a specialization in sports entities by the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Accredited with CAFI and EIP certificate required by MFID II for advice on complex investment products issued by the Institute of Stock Studies (IEB).

For two years he studied to be part of Inspector’s State Body for Financial Studies in Madrid. In 2012 he began his working career at Akerton Partners as a consultant in the financing department.

In 2016 he joined BBVA as a financial advisor in Commercial Banking, managing portfolios of private clients and SMEs, analyzing and managing financing operations, overdue risks and collective investment products.

In 2019 he returned to Akerton Partners to be part of the financial advisory team.

Juan Carlos Pomar

Area Manager

Juan Carlos holds a degree in Economics and Business Sciences with specialization in Auditing from the Complutense University of Madrid. In addition, he holds an MBA from the Instituto Empresas Madrid.

Juan Carlos began his career at Coopers & Lybrand in 1990 where he was responsible for clients in the commercial, service and Real Estate sectors.

In 1998 he joined Madritel (Auna’s Group subsidiary) as Administration and Accounting Manager where he led the implementation of the accounting processes and criteria and participated in the ERP common model definition (SAP) Chart of accounts and Administrative Manual of the Group.

In 2002 he moved, along with the Auna Group, to Barcelona as Administration and Accounting Director. There he was responsible for the integration processes of six of the cable operators of Auna.

In 2003 he returned to Madrid as Systems and Process Manager where his role was to determine, develop and implement ERP (SAP) Group improvements.

In 2005 France Telecom Group acquired Auna, and Juan Carlos continued as Systems and Process Manager, a role in which he was responsible for the process integration project of Amena, Auna and France Telecom Spain, and, later, Orange and Ya.com (2007). He was also responsible for data migration and the new ERP (SAP) definition, collaborating on the economic budget (salary reviews, training, promotion, etc.) and acting as its representative on different committees of the Group.

He joined Ambers&Co in August 2008, and since July 2009, has been at Akerton Partners where he has participated in multiple financial projects for a group of companies across a range of sectors as well as the launch of the Lending platform.

José Luis Sanchidrián

Head of Public Incentives and Forensic

José Luis holds a degree in Economics and Business Sciences from the CEU San Pablo. He is registered as Auditor of Accounts on the Official Register of Auditors of Accounts (ROAC) , accredited to the SEC as Auditor of Listed Companies in the USA, and is a Real Estate Agent (API). He has experience leading consultancy and audit teams in projects at large companies.

In 1994 he joined Deloitte where he spent most of his professional career being responsible for financial auditing projects for national and international companies, financial consulting, review and internal control design (SOX), IPO processes, due diligence, business valuations, assessment on obtaining public incentives. He has experience across all sectors principally technology, media, telecommunications and energy (TMT – Energy). He has built up this experience and areas of expertise as a result of his last 8 years at Deloitte.

In 2009 he joined Akerton Partners as head of the Forensic department, a team responsible for the preparation of expert reports, economic estimation reports, advice on the application of accounting principles and the carrying out of Financing Due Diligence.

In recent years, he has produced various expert reports, such as judicial and judicial expert reports, which have been ratified in Courts of First Civil and Commercial Instance, Provincial Hearings, Higher Courts of Justice, Court of Auditors and the High Court.

He is also responsible for the Public Incentives department, the processing of R+D+i assistance and investment projects made by companies in all sectors.

Cristina Nieto

Head of the Financing Area

Cristina holds a degree in Business Administration and Management, with a major in Finance from CUNEF (part of Complutense University of Madrid). She has also completed an Executive MBA from ISEM Fashion Business School (part of University of Navarra). She has worked, while living in the United States (2012-2019), as a guest lecturer at the University of Texas, under the “Transportation Systems Management” program led by Dr. Walton to present the basic principles of financing transportation infrastructure projects.

In 2007 she joined the Project Finance Department of Cintra (Grupo Ferrovial) where she was responsible for Treasury. Within this role she acted as Project Finance Manager for several projects in Spain and Portugal.

In 2012 she moved to the United States (New York and later Austin) to develop new business opportunities as a Director, bidding and closing several projects across various states such as Virginia (US 460), Texas (North Tarrant segments Express 3A 3B) and North Carolina (I-77 Hot Lanes).

In 2015 she joined Miami-based VINCI Concessions (VINCI Group), as Head of the Project Finance Department for North America, bidding and closing the company’s first contract in Saskatchewan Province (Bypass Regina) as well as prequalifying and bidding on several projects in other jurisdictions (George Massey- Vancouver, South West Stoney Trail- Calgary, Gordie Howe-Detroit/Windsor or Purple Line-Maryland).

In 2017 she moved back to Austin as Director, joining PFM Financial Advisors, as Municipal Financial Advisor (Series 50) to develop PPP (Public Private Partnerships) projects advising different Departments of Transportation (Indiana Finance Authority, University of Georgia or Texas Department of Transportation, among others).

In 2019, she joined Akerton Partners as Head of the Financing Department.

Francisco Camacho

Founder and CEO

Francisco holds a degree in Economics and Business Sciences with specialization in Auditing from the Complutense University of Madrid, Advanced Direction programme in INSEAD (Fontainebleu). He has carried out financial courses in Spain, France and the USAC. He has also been a teacher and speaker at several universities, in addition to giving lectures. He is also a member of the REA, ICJ.

In 1984 he joined Arthur Andersen as Industrial Business Manager where he was responsible for several projects in both auditing and consulting.

In 1993 he joined Alstom as CFO and Council Secretary, working as Head of Finance and Advisor to several of the group’s companies in Canada, Mexico, France and Spain. Additionally, he was responsible for real estate projects in Spain, global cash flow, and financing projects in various countries.

In 2000 he joined Auna as Administration and Finance Director where he was responsible for various financing and debt restructurings, achieving in 2004, along with his team, the award for the best refinancing of the year (4.500M€), an award given by the magazine Euromoney.

In 2005 he was made CFO of the Auna Group, culminating in the sale of the Group to France Telecom (the mobile phone business) and to ONO (the fixed-line business) for € 12,800M. In 2006 he was appointed CFO Purchasing Director of Orange Spain by France Telecom Group.

In 2007 he was given the award for financial excellence in the category “Best financial manager of the year” by the Spanish Association of Financial and Corporate Treasurers (ASSET). This award aims to highlight actions implemented by the CFO of a company and their original financial solutions that have contributed to the success of the financial departments within a company and had an impact on the company’s performance.

In 2008 he founded the financial advisory firm today known as Akerton Partners.