In recent years, Ahorro Corporación has become a leading player in investment banking.Through its various divisions, it offers bespoke solutions in debt restructuring, financing, venture capital and corporate finance to institutional and private banking clients. It recently unveiled a new business line in the real estate sector: Ahorro Corporación Soluciones Inmobiliarias (ASCI). This company manages real estate assets for sale and is one of Ahorro Corporación's main initiatives to support its shareholder savings banks in the current economic context.

Corporate Finance
In 2008, ACF was again ranked among the top five Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) advisors in Spain by both Mergermarket and Thomson Reuters. In 2008, the group provided advisory services on 8 deals worth a total of more than 1.2 billion euro.

Venture Capital
The Venture Capital area made two investments. The AC Capital Premier II fund acquired a minority stake in Flight Training Europe, a Jerez-based school for airline pilots. The CPE fund invested in ABC Arquitectura Modular and studied the acquisition of a minority stake in Aseguramiento Técnico de la Calidad (this deal was completed in February 2009).

As regards divestment, the AC Capital Premier fund sold Fábrica Electrotécnica Josa (BJC) to Siemens, and the Andalucía 21 fund sold its stake in World Sec.

AC Desarrollo created the Castilla y León Capital Desarrollo I F.C.R. fund, with 67 million euro in funding, to invest in the Castilla y León region. AC Desarrollo also opened an office in Valladolid.

At the end of 2008, AC Desarrollo had a total of 516 million euro in funds under management, including the AC Infraestructuras fund, managed by Ahorro Corporación Financiera.

Capital Markets
Although Ahorro Corporación's capital markets division significantly reduced its deal volume in 2008 (by 38% with respect to the previous year), it participated in funding operations worth 30.250 billion euro and lead-managed deals worth 27.250 billion euro. Ahorro Corporación devoted a great deal of time and resources to the development and implementation of Ahorro Corporación Soluciones Inmobiliarias, its real estate services company, which was incorporated early in 2009.

Underwriting and Distribution of Fixed-Income and Structured Products
In 2008, the Fixed-Income Underwriting and Distribution division strengthened its position as a distributor in extremely adverse market conditions. Its skill at selectively identifying potential investors enabled the division to attain a leading position in the industry. The fastest-growing area was structured products (IRS, options, etc.) as a result of our customers' need to obtain returns and the growth in liabilities in the form of structured deposits.

Equity Structured Products and Trading
Between January and November 2008, more than 160 deals were completed with over 35 institutional clients totalling over 1.2 billion euro. Although that figure is slightly less than the previous year, it still places us among the leading structured product distributors in Spain. This division contributed 31% of revenues, twice as much as last year.

Barcelona Office
The office in Barcelona was opened recently with a view to providing companies and institutions in Catalonia with the investment banking division's various services, taking advantage of strong growth in the middle market. In its short existence, the office has brokered more than 5 billion euro in deals, primarily in capital markets and corporate finance.