English MainCover has begun to attract attention from investors after starting market interest earlier this year. An Alicante-based firm specializing in software development and services for municipal tax collection, it has been testing demand since last fall. The firm confirmed a definitive selling process this spring, with Houlihan Lokey overseeing the transaction by organizing the sales ledger and seeking potential buyers.
Initial offers and expressions of interest have already emerged, with up to five potential contenders showing interest. The group includes several European funds and American players, among them Cinven, Stirling Square, Carlyle, TA Associates, and precautionary investors, as reported this Monday. The market chatter suggests a strong appetite from international funds to participate in the next stage of the process.
Following this initial phase, the plan moves into a second stage: the preparation of a formal final offer and a bid for the managing entity, led by Charles Rico, a veteran in handling shifts in shareholding. The Gestión Tributaria Territorial (GTT) initiative, launched in 1998, originated as a private-sector model proposed by Fernando Plaza and supported by the Alicante regional authorities to replicate a tax administration model with private-sector efficiency. The initiative has gained broad backing from investors who backed the capital structure and future growth.
During the financial crisis, restructuring of portfolios led to the transfer of several blocks of shares to investment funds. In 2017, a large transfer moved to Increase Capital, with GED retaining a minority stake while other fund managers and a leadership team continued to oversee the company. The subsequent wave of transactions came in 2020, when the firm was sold in full to a British investor, AnaCap, for a price seen as crossing the nine-figure euro mark, reflecting a new phase of ownership and strategy for the buyer. The current round aims to attract a new generation of investors to support continued expansion.
GTT expands its operations into regional tax administration
Regardless of market fluctuations, the company has shown solid growth in recent years. Growth has come both organically, through successful tenders from public authorities, and through strategic acquisitions. In 2008, GTT expanded into Catalonia with a local partner, and in 2018 it absorbed Basque tax services through Gesmunpal. The Dominican consortium, along with the Meana Group, joined the electronic management platform last year to broaden its regional footprint. The firm has also pursued opportunities in Central America and the Caribbean, including a collaboration with the tax authorities in the Dominican Republic and ongoing pilots in Honduras to develop new digital tax procedures. The business celebrated a 2021 turnover of around 40.5 million euros as a marker of its continued scale and capability.