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The Argentine field will have its own unicorn in just three years if the forecasts of the strategic plan of the Los Grobo Group are fulfilled. The company, founded in 1984 by Adolfo Grobocopatel, estimates that at year-end 2021/2022 it will have revenues of US $ 1011 million and would join the select group of companies that make up MercadoLibre, Globant, Despegar and OLX.

The company's story was reversed at the end of 2016, when the Venture Capital Partners investment fund bought 76% of the share package. Of the founding family there were only two members, Gustavo and Matilde Grobocopatel, who control the remaining 24%.

Along with the new owners, a renewed management arrived with Jorge Arpí, general manager of the company, at the head. There began to outline a plan of action to five years to clean up the accounts, improve the profile of debt and grow the company at an ambitious compound annual rate of 42%. Thus, it would go from an ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of US $ 20.7 million in the year ended June 2017 to US $ 119.1 million.

"Originally, for this year we projected that the company's EBITDA would reach US $ 67.1 million, but until March we are already US $ 50.3 million, so we estimate that the accumulated 12 months end in 74.5% We are talking about an annual growth of 63.5%, "said Arpí during a press conference.

With these numbers on the balance sheet, the investor fund decided last year to make a capital contribution of U.S. $ 100 million. The money, explained the CEO of the company, was used in its entirety to reduce the weight of the debt and to improve the mix of instruments to lower the interest burden, something that, in part, was already achieved.

In 2017, Los Grobo had a debt of US $ 232 million, equivalent to 11.1 times its EBITDA. In the year ending June this year, that amount will have decreased by $ 171 million (2.5 times the EBITDA) and by 2022 it is estimated that the liability will be only US $ 44.7 million (0.4 times the projected ebitda).

"Not only have we lowered the debt, but we have improved its profile." To give an example, until two years ago Agrofina, our company dedicated to the protection of crops, was financed in pesos with accounts receivable, which is what we change " added Arpí.

The next step for Los Grobo could be to think about an IPO. However, the plans for now are to walk on insurance, explained Carlos García, president of Victoria Capital. He added: "If in 2022 we got to bill U.S. $ 1 billion and Argentina is still a civilized country, we could make an IPO."

Automatic translation from spanish.