T&G International SA, a holding company for several private Spanish companies developing software and high technology products for information technology and telecommunications, has recently completed a major capital expansion, bringing the group’s capital up to $9.4m. The operation, the first venture capital funding of a Spanish company from Europe, was promoted by minor T&G partner of two years, Societat Catalana de Capital Risc, with the aim of giving underpinning the high rate of growth within T&G’s various companies. It will also fund a new corporate plan that involves expansion into other European markets, and is intended to ensure that the company remains largely Spanish-owned instead of having to take on board a major multinational shareholder. The new shareholders come from a pool of European venture capital companies linked to major financial institutions: UEI is putting in $2.9m, CDC Participations is investing $683,760, while Siparex Participations and Epargne Partenaires are each putting in $1.2m, IRDI is contributing $427,350 and Euroventures Espana is chipping in with $683,760. The new funds will buy the backers a 35% stake in T&G, the balance remaining in the hands of the founding companies, principals and the Societat Catalana. T&G International employs 389 people in more than 20 different subsidiaries and calls on the specialisations of its various member companies to implement large integrated information technology projects. It can, therefore, compete with big international companies in bidding on major systems integration projects. Two attempts have already been made to buy T&G, one by Olivetti Information Systems and another by the large French software and services house Concept SA. However, following the now injection of capital, the Catalan group has managed to keep control and also its independence in a way that it hopes will prove more profitable for shareholders. T&G International also has a broad distribution network, and sells products overseas, as well as participating in several international projects. Although the initial cost is high when playing in international markets, T&G can now claim to be one of the few Spanish companies exporting technology via international affiliations in Latin America, the US, Europe and Asia. Of the group’s total turnover during 1989, one third was derived from Latin America. There is also the possibility of T&G being quoted on the Madrid stock exchange to consolidate the group. During 1989 T&G invested UKP3m in research and development, while this year it should start constructing a new research and training centre in Barcelona’s technological park, Valles. The centre with 100 staff, will take on 80% of T&G’s research and development. The group also has a joint contract with Sema Group Plc (CI No 1,119) to develop software for operative management at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The two have set up a temporary union of companies for four years in order to fulfil this $12m contract. Of the $7.7m capital raised during 1990 to 1991, $3m will go to promoting T&G’s infrastructure, premises and part of the cost of the research and development centre at Valles, while $2.6m will go to research and development and the rest to the group’s expansion and development in Europe and Latin America. T&G’s other companies are T&G Iberica SA which is a systems integrator, T&G Servicios and Soporte, which develops personnel software, T&G Creative Group SA, a developer of financial and accounting software, Tecno T&G which is an engineering and telecommunications company, Intecap which is a training institution for new applied technologies, and TPI, which operates in the softengineering market. The holding company has 10 foreign companies in South America and two in the US. Tecno T&G, the largest company within T&G International, has recently reported a 150% increase in its turnover for 1989 which rose to $8.5m from $3.4m the year before. Tecno T&G is a communications and systems engineering company, and the increase is largely due to the activities of its communications div
ision, Tecno Communicaciones.
Fault-tolerant
This division installs modems, multiplexors, X25 networks and network management systems, and represents Motorola Codex. It also distributes electronic mail products for Soft-Switch Inc, Wayne, Pennylvania. The company also installs local area networks, but also has its own developments such as Unitex which is a viewdata system designed to run on fault-tolerant Unix systems running Oracle. The division is also participating in the European Intelligent Area Communications Information System project within Esprit II. This project intends to develop a communications system linking the four European ports of Lisbon, Le Havre, Marseille and Barcelona. – Louise Jorgenson