Álvaro Guzmán de Lázaro holds a degree in Business Administration and Management (ICADE-E4) from Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid and is a CFA charterholder.
He began his professional career in 1994 as an intern in the audit division of Arthur Andersen (Madrid). He then worked at Bankers Trust (Paris), first in the back office of the equity division, and then as an equity analyst trainee.
In 1997 he started working as an equity analyst at Value Management & Research (Frankfurt), a management company founded by a former colleague of the legendary manager Peter Lynch. During this period he studied in depth the teachings of the fathers of value (Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher, Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, etc.) and he applied their principles when analyzing companies. A year later Fernando Bernad joined him, and they worked there together until 2000. After this experience he started managing family portfolios, and he returned to Spain to work as an analyst and supervisor at Beta Capital.
In 2001 he joined the analysis department of Banesto Bolsa, taking a large part of his team with him. There he deepened his expertise in the study of foreign listed companies which met the strict requirements of value investing.
Álvaro joined Bestinver’s management team in March 2003, and he remained there until 2014 (working alongside Fernando Bernad since 2007).
In 2015 he founded Azvalor, being the company’s CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer ever since.
“Above all, learn from your mistakes and those of other people”
Fernando Bernad holds a degree in European Business Administration (summa cum laude, jointly from ICADE, Madrid, and Northeastern University, Boston) and is a CFA charterholder.
He began his career as an investment analyst in 1998 at Value Management & Research (Frankfurt), where he worked for two years with Álvaro Guzmán de Lázaro. In 2000 he returned to Spain to work in the private equity sector as an associate at BNP Paribas “Leveraged Finance”. He then worked for Banesto as a sector analyst for cyclicals (steel, oil) and, after thar, he formed and led the research team at Interdin, whose strategy focused on developing investment ideas based on the theory of value investing.
In 2005 he joined Vetusta Group as investment director and achieved—in the 2 years he was there—average annual returns close to 30%.
In February 2007 he joined the management team at Bestinver, where he worked along with Álvaro Guzmán de Lázaro until 2014.
In 2015 he founded Azvalor, company where he has been a Director and Co-Chief Investment Officer together with Álvaro Guzmán de Lázaro since then.
“In fund management, you must be independent, patient and true to your beliefs”
Beltrán Parages holds a degree in Business Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid.
He began his professional career in 1997, at the Fixed Income distribution desk of Beta Capital SVB. In June 2000, after a year’s leave of absence as a volunteer at St. Marys Rehabilitation Center (Malawi), he rejoined the Beta Capital group, working as a fixed income and equity investment analyst at Gesbeta. In December of the same year, he joined Allfunds Bank where, over the course of 9 years, he held various roles in the development of the national and international business, ending up as regional director in charge of the business in Spain, Portugal, UK and Latin America.
He joined Bestinver in 2009, a company where he worked with Álvaro Guzmán de Lázaro and Fernando Bernad, and where he led the Business Development and Investor Relations team until October 2014.
In November 2015 he founded Azvalor, where he has been Director and Head of Investor Relations and Business Development since then.
“Passionate about ‘value investing’ and relationships that are based on trust”
Sergio Fernández-Pacheco holds a degree in Law and Business Administration from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE E-3).
He began his professional career in 1994, in the Financial Services area of Accenture, developing technology and process reengineering projects for different banking institutions.
In 1997 he joined BBVA, where he held different positions of responsibility in units such as Corporate Expansion, Private Banking, Investment Banking and, in his last stage, as managing director of Asset Management, coordinating strategic plans, digital initiatives, and own product proposals and those of third party managers.
During his professional career in the BBVA Group he was Chairman of Europea de Titulización, member of the Board of Garanti Asset Management (Turkey) and member of the Board of BBVA Switzerland.
In November 2015 he founded Azvalor, where he has been a Chief Financial and Operations Officer since then.
“My mission is to drive efficiency in operations and processes, generating more value for our co-investors”
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