Executive Team
Juan Arce
Managing Partner
Mr. Arce has a Degree in Business Administration in San Pablo CEU University and the FINRA Series 7 Licence to act as a General Securities Representative in USA. Expert in Wealth Management with more than 20 years working in the financial sector, he has been developing in the top firms, Board Member in Banco Madrid and Sales and Private Banking Managing Director in Merchbanc and Banco Finantia. In 2019 was named in the top 100 more relevant European directives. In 2007 he founded Aquasphere Management. Mr Arce is also Partner at AQUASPHERE Group as well as board member in several companies across Europe and United States.
Blas Miñarro
Partner
Mr. Miñarro began his professional career at Banco Santander, where he held various management positions for 27 years, the last 11 years at Santander Private Banking as Commercial Director for the Southern Cone and member of the Management Committee in Miami. Subsequently he was Managing Director at JP Morgan as well as Managing Director of BTG Pactual, until his incorporation as partner.
He holds a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Granada, an MBA from IDE-CESEM in Madrid and an Executive in Management and Leadership from MIT, as well as several other prestigious degrees and certificates. He holds Series 7 and Series 63 license
Horacio Cruz
Partner
Mr. Cruz over 15 years experience in the financial sector, including open-ended and closed-ended Real Estate Funds in Portugal, with total assets under management of over EUR 1.5 Billion. EUR 200M average yearly growth in assets under management for a five-year period. Experience includes international cross border investments between Europe and the United States. CEO of a financial institution in Florida with activity focused in real estate and commercial lending and offices in the US, Brazil, Netherlands and Portugal. Master in Business Administration from Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal
Javier Lluch
Partner
Mr. Lluch has successfully developed and managed real estate projects, properties and investment funds from Florida to Illinois for almost two decades, including partnerships with some of the largest U.S. real estate firms, articulating real estate investment transactions close to a billion dollars. While working for Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, Mr. Lluch negotiated and established important institutional relationships in the U.S. and Latin America, managing relationships worth upwards of a billion dollars of investment funds. Mr. Lluch graduated in Economics from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and attended the Master’s program for Civil Engineering in Construction Management at Florida International University. He also has several real estate certificates of specialty studies from accredited U.S. institutions
Gianni Bertran
Partner
Mr. Bertran accumulates more than 15 years in the financial sector starting in Asset Management & Private Banking working in BNP Paribas and Banco Finantia. During the last 10 years he developed his career in Investment Banking in high executive positions.
In 2021 Mr. Bertran co-founded Hitch Group, an Investment Banking company in Spain advising on the listing processes of companies in the main stock exchanges in Europe such as Madrid, Paris, London and Luxembourg. He is specialized in fundraising through ECM and DCM markets and sophisticated instruments with international funds. He also focuses on cross-bordering transactions between Europe and America.
He graduated in Business Administration at the University of Barcelona and the Copenhagen Business School with major in Finance. He also helds a Masters in Wealth Management and Private Banking by the University Abad Oliva in Barcelona.
Jacobo Ferrando
Partner
Mr. Ferrando has more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector where he started in private banking developing his career in entities such as Mediolanum Group and Gesiuris. For the last decade, he has specialized in private placements and advisory in M&A processes, having transacted operations through cash out deals for a global amount of 110M€. He holds a Law degree from the Universidad Internacional de Catalunya.
Fabián Lares
Associate Partner
Mr. Lares was formerly managing director heading up investment banking origination team at JB Capital (JBC) in Spain, the independent investment bank founded by Javier Botín. His role was to source transactions for the investment banking activity at JBC linked to technology, real estate, infrastructure and renewables. He has also led fundraising initiatives at JBC for its venture capital unit, raising more than €50m. Before this role Fabián was head of JBC’s TMT equity research desk for 9 years, with market coverages for the Iberian and European markets, winning the award for best stop picker in the Tech space by Thomson Reuters in 2016. He previously held other roles in capital markets in other global investment banks in Paris, London and Lisbon, and prior to working in finance held communications roles at Telefonica and Nortel Telecom (both in Miami).
He taught corporate finance valuation classes at the Instituto Garrigues, BME Institute and Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles. Mr. Lares holds an MBA from Instituto de Empresa and a BA and MA degrees from the University of
Western Ontario in Canada.
Juan Rodriguez
Director
Mr. Rodriguez graduated from Johnson & Wales University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2013. Worked for 7A Capital in the real estate department, raising capital for the purchase of properties in auction.
In 2016 began working for VectorGlobal WMG as the business developer for the family office division and in 2018 he joined Aquasphere as Head of Business Affaires in Latin America. He holds a Series 7 and Series 65 license.
Domingo Lara
COO
Mr. Lara holds a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a Master’s Degree in Business Law from the Universidad CEU San Pablo. He started working at Abanca, subsequently at a law firm specialized in commercial and tax law called Main Legal. In 2019 he joined Aquasphere and more recently in 2022 he was named as the Chief Operating Officer. He holds a Series 65 license to act as an Investment Advisor Representative.
Jose Pablo Ruiz
Marketing and Communication Manager
Mr. Ruiz graduated from Francisco Marroquín University with a Bachelor’s degree in Product Design with an specialty on Digital Design in 2021, while managing Marketing and Communication at Kajilogistics S.A, in Guatemala City. Later on in 2022 he graduated from ELISAVA university in Barcelona with a Masters degree in Creative Direction and publicity.
