In Madrid. First Audiovisual Investment Forum

María Valenzuela & Raúl Berdones

The Madrid Audiovisual Cluster, in collaboration with CaixaBank and CREA SGR, held this pioneering event, which was very well received by the industry.

More than 160 professionals from the sector attended the event, with the presence of institutions, associations, media and representatives of creative, technical, financial, training, educational companies and other aspects of the audiovisual ecosystem. EGEDA a key player.

On January 28, the First Madrid Audiovisual Investment Forum was held at the CaixaBank All in One space in the capital, organized by the Madrid Audiovisual Cluster in collaboration with CaixaBank and CREA SGR.

It was attended by authorities and professionals representing the audiovisual and entertainment industry. An event that provided the opportunity to delve into long-term private and public financing models and served to delve into options such as private equity and new investment methods. In addition, the challenges that the sector currently faces were examined.

New financial instruments, beyond the tax incentive for production

The companies learned details of new financial instruments, beyond the tax incentive for production. It was observed how the sector can interact with investment funds to impact the capital of companies in order to obtain an economic and structural impact that is sustainable over time and achieve a more robust industry.

Stimulating the training and specialization of companies

The creativity of the sector and innovative financial opportunities can go hand in hand to stimulate the training and specialization of companies and achieve alliances that translate into access to credit under more favorable conditions.

The president of the cluster, Raúl Berdonés, in charge of opening this economic Forum: “From the Audiovisual Cluster of Madrid, currently made up of more than 90 entities, we believed it was necessary to hold this meeting with the purpose of analyzing the possibilities of long-term financing, not only for projects, but also for investment in companies to acquire solidity and stability, which is what we are all looking for here. Without a doubt, the audiovisual sector in Madrid is in an excellent moment, the data supports that it is at the head of production in the Spanish territory and, therefore, it is worth having this dialogue and seeing the added value that a Cluster provides.”

The Cluster seeks to facilitate the vehicles so that companies are more durable and come out stronger financially.

IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES AND LEADERS

Teresa Azcona, managing director of the Audiovisual Cluster of Madrid, participated in the opening ceremony; as well as Juan Antonio Peña, director of Madrid Institutions at CaixaBank; Gonzalo Cabrera, General Director of Culture and Creative Industries of the Community of Madrid; and Inmaculada Sánchez-Valdés, General Coordinator of the Mayor’s Office of the Madrid City Council, who stressed the importance of audiovisual as a strategic sector and key economic driver, with a significant return on investment. As recalled, audiovisual already represents 2.6% of Madrid’s GDP. An industry in constant evolution and which stands out as a determining factor in the country’s brand.

Employment in the audiovisual sector has increased in recent years and Spain is one of the leaders in investment in European original content platforms among the community countries.

The first round table of the day approached private equity or venture capital, one of the alternative investments that has been gaining ground in recent times. This was discussed by Juan Miguel Goenechea, partner at GOROS Investment; Alejandro Guil de la Vega, investment manager at Three Hills Capital; Gordon Mackinnon, managing partner at TwentyFourSeven; and Hernán Pérez, CEO of Workout Group, in a session moderated by Andrés Sánchez Pajares, CEO of Filmika Audiovisual.

The second panel, led by Henar León, Head of Innovation and Subsidies at PRISA Audio. Public funding policies, with the participation of Borja Cabezón, CEO of ENISA; Miguel Ovejero, Deputy Director General of Audiovisual Communication Services at the State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence; Alex Lafuente, Partner and Co-Founder of BTEAM Pictures; and José Marino García, Director of Capitalisation at the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT).

The main lines of financing of ENISA (National Innovation Company), dependent on the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, the operation of its participatory loan programs for SMEs and entrepreneurs, designed to strengthen the financial system of companies, and the requirements to apply for them were presented.

‘Plan España Hub Audiovisual de Europa’

In this session it was stressed that the audiovisual sector will have 1.5 billion additional euros in financial instruments in a new phase of the ‘Plan España Hub Audiovisual de Europa’ by the hand of SETT, an entity launched last year by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service for financing and investment in advanced technologies linked to telecommunications, new disruptive digital technologies and the audiovisual sector.

EGEDA. KEY PROTAGONIST

The conference on the audiovisual financing platform SEGO Creative was also held, with the attendance of Carolina Barco, founder of Incoproduction; and Javier Villaseca, CEO of Sego Finance. Both pointed out that SEGO Creative, resulting from the financing agreement signed by EGEDA and SEGO Venture to support audiovisual producers in accessing financing through a network of more than 40,000 private investors, has reached one million euros of private investment in its first six months of operation, which will make it possible to support three feature film projects.

DEBATE ON INNOVATION and new investment formulas, moderated by María Valenzuela, founder & CEO of Brisa Media

Javier Nuche

Guillermo Jiménez, general director of AXIS (ICO Group); Jesús Martínez, founder of Moby Dick Film Capital; Juan Antonio Moreno, CEO of AD4Ventures; and Javier Nuche, general director of Atresmedia Diversificación, participated. Among others, the alternative model of media for equity financing was raised, capital contribution to companies in kind, in the form of advertising spaces in the media.

The last session of this First Madrid Forum on Audiovisual Investment focused specifically on the challenges and opportunities in accessing long-term bank financing, with the presence of Rafael Lambea, general manager of CREA SGR; Eduardo Ballesteros, head of corporate financing at CaixaBank; Íñigo Santías, general manager of Peris Costumes; and the moderation of Irene Jiménez, editor and co-founder of Audiovisual451.

The financial institution CREA SGR, established twenty years ago to cover the need for financing in the audiovisual sector, has allocated more than 300 million euros in guarantees for audiovisual initiatives since 2019, which has led to the creation of more than 5,200 jobs, thanks to public-private participation.

In short, it is essential to create trust between all the actors involved. This means maintaining long-term ties with banks, creating strong and sustainable projects, and promoting the professionalisation of companies, which would make it easier to deal with different types of financing with greater guarantees.

Redacción TVMAS

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