INVESTMENT BANKING & ADVISORY
Nearly three decades in corporate finance
At the intersection of investment banking, corporate finance and independent advisory — advising listed companies, financial institutions, entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses.
c. 30 yrs
IN FINANCE & ADVISORY
c. €40bn
AGGREGATE TRANSACTION VALUE
Global
CROSS-SECTOR REACH
Direct involvement
SENIOR-LED, HANDS-ON ADVISORY
A PRACTITIONER'S TRACK RECORD
Santiago Minguez spent nearly three decades working at the intersection of investment banking, corporate finance and independent advisory. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in London, where he worked as an analyst and associate. He also served 11 years as an Executive Director at Credit Suisse.
Over his career, he has been involved in corporate transactions with an aggregate value of approximately €40 billion, advising listed companies, financial institutions, entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses across M&A, capital markets and financing transactions.
CROSS-SECTOR EXPERIENCE
A broad range of industries and transaction profiles
Over the course of his career, Santiago has worked across a broad range of industries, including TMT, financial services, real estate, infrastructure, hospitality, healthcare, distribution and agribusiness, among others, advising companies, shareholders and investors on transactions with very different strategic and financial profiles. Throughout his career, Santiago has worked with leading Spanish and international groups such as Telefónica, Santander and Patrizia, as well as entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses.
Several of these industries have also shaped the investment perspective behind GENIVS. In real estate, Santiago was involved in two major build-to-rent transactions with Patrizia between 2020 and 2023, representing an aggregate investment of approximately €150 million. Five of GENIVS' six founding partners were involved across these transactions from different sides — as principals for both the developer and the institutional investor, and in financial advisory roles — providing the team with a shared track record well before the creation of GENIVS.
His infrastructure experience has provided additional perspective on long-duration assets, risk allocation and the characteristics sought by institutional capital — principles directly relevant to GENIVS' approach to affordable housing as social infrastructure. Experience in hospitality and healthcare real estate has further broadened this perspective, including transactions involving the acquisition and disposal of operating real estate assets and the selection of specialised operators, reinforcing an understanding of the relationship between the underlying asset, its operator and long-term investment performance.
His transaction experience has also continuously fed into his teaching at ESADE. Without disclosing confidential information, many of the situations, decisions and challenges encountered in real transactions have been transformed into practical classroom cases, allowing students to move beyond the formula and work through valuation, negotiation and strategic decision-making grounded in real-world experience.
A SENIOR, HANDS-ON APPROACH
Personal, senior-led advisory from analysis to negotiation
His approach to advisory has always been highly personal and senior-led: understanding the business in depth, developing an independent view on valuation and strategy, and remaining directly involved from the initial analysis through investor engagement and negotiation.
Particularly when advising entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses, he has placed a premium on discretion, direct communication and alignment with shareholders — combining transaction experience with access to institutional investors, financial sponsors, international investment banks and specialist advisers.
TODAY
Focused on ESADE and GENIVS
His professional focus is now on ESADE and GENIVS, and he no longer undertakes M&A advisory mandates directly. He does, however, remain available to help identify the right adviser for a particular situation and, where appropriate, connect businesses and shareholders with potential investors, buyers or other relevant parties within his long-standing professional network. Adviser recommendations are made selectively, involving only professionals whose judgement, integrity and execution capabilities he would be comfortable standing behind personally.
“Good advice starts with understanding the business, but ultimately comes down to judgement, trust and taking responsibility for the recommendation.”
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