Public co-investment fund pairing foreign capital with Spanish strategic-sector firms.
Because the fund invests on the same terms as its private counterparts and always holds a minority position, a project can add public capital to a financing package without surrendering control to the state.
Its mandate covers commitments both to individual companies and to investment vehicles, and it requires the foreign co-investor to contribute at least as much as the fund, so the public money accompanies private capital rather than replacing it.
FOCO was created as part of Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan with an endowment of 2,000 million euros, and its management was entrusted to COFIDES under a Council of Ministers agreement that regulates its activity and functioning.
The fund has indefinite duration and reinvests the returns earned on its investments into new operations, so its capital recycles into successive rounds of co-investment in Spanish productive capacity rather than being wound down after a fixed term.
Access to the fund runs through expressions of interest for direct operations, and eligible projects are those carried out on Spanish territory by companies registered in the European Union that have work centres in Spain.
On the indirect route the fund invests in domestic or foreign vehicles that hold contributions from foreign investors at least equal to its own commitment, and its holdings in those vehicles cannot be majority positions.
The Co-investment Fund (FOCO) is a public financial instrument managed by COFIDES that draws foreign public and private capital into productive investment in Spain, above all into companies and investment vehicles active in the country's strategic sectors.
Its operations are always made jointly with a foreign co-investor whose contribution must at least match the fund's, through direct equity or quasi-equity stakes or through subscriptions to investment vehicles, in minority positions and with tickets of between 10 million and 150 million euros.