Fspeaking at the Portuguese Private Equity Association (Apcri) Conference in Lisbon, the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion assured that the Fund of Funds, as outlined in the government program submitted to Parliament, “is to be fulfilled.”
Manuel Castro Almeida revealed that the government is currently “working with BPF to design its model, its funding sources [and] how it will operate”: “Soon, by 2026, we will have news on this matter,” he assured.
The minister stated that the aim is a “structural and recurrent fund of funds, managed by BPF group, that can continue the mission of the Capitalization and Resilience Fund – focused on capitalizing the business fabric.”
The goal is to replicate “the market practices of capital partnerships with the EIB/EIF group, promoting the empowerment of the national venture capital ecosystem.”
In his speech at the Apcri conference, Castro Almeida highlighted the role of ‘private equity’ and ‘venture capital’ in “applying productive investment to sustainably realize, in a relatively short period, the growth and competitiveness ambitions, whether of traditional businesses, many of them family-owned, or of entrepreneurs, sometimes very young, some still in higher education.”
“In the case of ‘private equity’, its entry into companies should mean increasing the size of units, buying new equipment, acquiring other companies, increasing production, revenues, and EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization],” he substantiated.
For ‘venture capital,’ he continued, “it will be the innovation produced by applied research that brings business opportunities in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, digitalization, biotechnology, cybersecurity, data analysis, or industrial design, among many others.”
Castro Almeida also expressed support for Apcri’s proposal to change the sector’s name from ‘venture capital’ to ‘investment capital,’ “aligning with most countries in the European Union and the world,” and urged the managed companies to export more than the current 49% of sales.
