At the end of December, the Syclef Group, owned by the French fund Ardian, announced the start of its international expansion by creating Syclef Iberia. Its establishment in Spain came with its first two acquisitions, giving the company a presence in several autonomous regions and a cumulative workforce of around 240 employees.

The first acquisition was the Enfrío Group, which specialises in industrial refrigeration, commercial refrigeration, air conditioning and insulated partitions. With this transaction, Syclef has taken over seven agencies in the Valencia region (Valencia, Castellón and Alicante), Murcia (Murcia) and Andalusia (Malaga, Seville and Granada). Its workforce of over 100 people will continue to be headed by the company's current Director, Antonio Gutiérrez.

Conquering the Spanish market
A week later, the French company announced the second purchase in what it calls its “conquering of the Spanish market”. This was its acquisition of the Iparfrío Group, made up of five companies and which will give it a presence in other complementary regions. With headquarters in Gipuzkoa and agencies in Vizcaya, La Rioja, Navarra and Madrid, it employs almost 140 people.

The Iparfrío Group was founded in 2003 and is managed by David Lopez. It specialises in commercial refrigeration. Syclef's objective with these two acquisitions is to grow rapidly in the same way as it has done in France, where it came into being in 2003. To do this, it will seek to strengthen the market position of both groups. At a later stage, it plans to enter new international markets.

Decentralised organisational structure
In France, Syclef specialises in industrial refrigeration (logistics platforms, warehouses, food processing, etc.), commercial refrigeration (supermarkets, convenience stores, etc.) and air-conditioning systems. It employs over 1,300 people there, including more than 120 students.

In October 2020, the Ardian fund announced the purchase of a majority stake in Syclef, which employed around 800 people at the time. Its growth had accelerated with the acquisition of 15 companies since 2015 under Latour Capital, its previous owner. Its decentralised organisational structure makes it possible to preserve the identity of all the companies that become part of the group.

^{Photo: Enfrío}