Relief in the management of the Applus+ certification group. Weeks after the announcement of the upcoming retirement of the until now CEO, Fernando Basabe, the company announced this Wednesday his replacement. It is Joan Amigó, who has held the position of financial director of the leading group in the ITV business since 2007.
According to Applus+, the appointment will be effective from June 28, once it is ratified by the general shareholders' meeting of the company, which is listed on the stock market with a valuation of more than 900 million euros. "With his excellent financial track record, his leadership skills and deep knowledge of the industry and of Applus+, Mr. Amigó is the ideal candidate to lead the Company in its new stage," Applus+ said in a statement.
"I thank the board for their trust in me and I take on this challenge with great determination and with the commitment to continue successfully driving the development of the group. My priority is to ensure that we meet our strategic objectives. I am sure that, with the motivation and great talent of the professionals who are part of Applus, we will be able to achieve it. All our actions will be aimed at increasing shareholder value. Finally, I would like to personally thank Fernando Basabe for his continuous support and advice throughout all these years," Amigó said.
The executive was a key part of the team that took the company public in 2014 and since 2019 has been part of the board of directors. Now he replaces Basabe ---who has been the CEO for eleven years--- and takes charge of a group that has a workforce of more than 25,000 people in 70 countries and is one of the global leaders in the inspection, testing and certification business.
With a degree in Economics from the UAB and trained at the IESE and Wharton School business schools, Joan Amigó began his professional career at Bimbo, when it belonged to the former Sara Lee.
Applus was created by the Barcelona-based company Agbar in 1996 and from 2004 began a strong period of expansion by allying with the former Caja Madrid and Unión Fenosa. In 2008, after a close bidding war, the company passed into the hands of private equity, specifically the Carlyle group, which listed the company on the stock exchange in May 2014. Currently, the company's largest shareholder, chaired by Christopher Cole, is the investment group Southeastern, which entered Applus in 2016 after Carlyle's definitive exit. Southeastern, however, only controls 5% of the shareholding, which is totally fragmented and freely traded on the stock exchange.
With its central base on the UAB campus in Bellaterra and corporate offices also in Madrid and A Coruña, Applus+ is the company that owns the LGAI Technological Center laboratory and the automotive engineering and homologation company Idiada, which has one of the main test circuits for the automotive sector, in Santa Oliva del Penedès. The group is also a leader in the ITV business, with more than 27 million inspections per year carried out through a network of 600 stations in 14 countries. In 2021, it invoiced 1,776.7 million euros, 14.1% more. The Spanish market now generates only a quarter of its business volume.
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