José Antonio de Benito, Sales and Marketing Director at Fridec Solutions tells us about the history and trajectory of the company and how October contributed to their growth.
De Benito has been the sales and marketing director for about a year. Previously, he was occupying different areas of the business. After his father’s death, he decided to go abroad to start new businesses. Then last year, his uncle, who was in charge of the company, retired. It was then that him and brothers decided to take over the family business.
A company of great trajectory
Fridec Solutions is a family business that was created more than 40 years ago and began specializing in metal and steel. Today, it is a renowned and well-established company. Fridec has been divided into 4 business areas since De Benito and his brother took over the company:
– Fridec Industrial: Focused on large supermarket chains and climatization. It’s installations for the food sector facilitates the usage of maximum energy by taking advantage of the surplus energy they produce.
– Fridec Sí: Focuses on food and interior restoration projects. They devise the design of commercial spaces and deliver “turnkey” projects so that the business obtains maximum profitability from day one.
– Fridec Clima and ventilation: Its installations are focused on energy saving. They try to use materials with little or no environmental impact.
– Fridec Solutions: The stainless steel factory works on making products for their installations and projects. In addition, installations with CO2 that is currently trending in the market.
Achievement
When they wanted to buy 50% of Fridec from their uncle, they had trouble finding the necessary financing. In their search for a solution, they discovered October. Benito’s brothers wanted to carry out a leveraged buyout, a MBO, through Familybox. A MBO is a type of operation generally carried out by large companies and not SMEs. Benito’s family found in October a partner who helped them in the restructuring of their business.
Alfonso Aguado, Head of Inside Sales of October, tells us about Fridec’s project and how October actively collaborated with them to drive their business.
“Fridec came to us in February 2018, the owner wanted to sell the shares to his nephews to retire. They wanted to create a new company and give it another vision. We thought it was a great idea because it was a generational change, with new ideas, continuity and they had gained new customers. That’s why we decided to bet on them.“
“It was more of human financing because they really looked at people first and then looked at the project, placing their bet on the entrepreneur,” says José Antonio de Benito, Sales and Marketing Director of Fridec.
“Once the information was provided and we had everything in order, we were able to carry out the financing within 4-5 days“, points out Alfonso Aguado, Head of Inside Sales of October.
Finally, José Antonio de Benito tells us Fridec now has new projects in sight. Refrigerated showcases are their star product alongside their hallmark. Now they seek not only to update them, but to make them better than their competitors, and we have a lot of faith in them.
Fridec obtained a €900,000 loan over 60 months for the acquisition of 50% of the company and 1,561 investors trusted and lent on the project.