Houlihan Lokey Advises Peninsula Capital

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Peninsula Capital, a European middle-market private equity investor, has acquired a majority stake in EQA, a leading Spanish provider of certification, inspection, and verification services in R&D+I, quality management systems, and ESG standards.

Peninsula Capital is a European middle-market private equity investor with c.€3 billion of AUM, investing in high-quality businesses across Europe. The firm seeks well-managed companies with strong fundamentals and outstanding earnings power, taking both majority and minority stakes across buyouts, recapitalisations, and growth equity transactions. Peninsula Capital works closely with management teams and other stakeholders with the goal of creating long-term value, leveraging its deep local knowledge and network across its core geographies.

Founded in 1997 by Gustaf Horn, EQA is dedicated to certification, inspection, and verification in R&D+I, quality management systems, and ESG standards. Additionally, it acts as an urban collaborating entity in Madrid, Galicia, and the Comunidad Valenciana. EQA is the leading Spanish reference in the market for R&D+I project certification. Today, EQA holds more than 20 accreditations, conducting over 11,000 audits per year for more than 10,000 clients, with a team of over 320 employees.

The company has achieved extraordinary growth in recent years, maintaining a leadership position in R&D+I certification while exploring new certification segments, notably ESG standards. EQA operates in a highly fragmented market with very positive long-term trends, including increasing regulatory compliance requirements, supplier audits across increasingly complex supply chains, sustainability and ESG pressures, digitalisation and cybersecurity risks, and regulatory harmonisation, among others.

EQA, which will continue to be led by Gustaf Horn and Ignacio Martínez (the company’s current CEO), has the ambition to become one of the European leaders in the market for R&D+I certification, management systems, and urban licensing. The current management team, together with the support of Peninsula Capital, has developed an ambitious business plan for the coming years focused primarily on further consolidation in Spain, as well as international expansion across Europe in countries such as Italy and France.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive buyside advisor to Peninsula Capital in a transaction that reflects the seamless collaboration between the European TICC industry coverage team and the local team in Spain.

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