It is said that business is a matter of smell. And Omar González (Bogotá, 69 years old) must have it very tuned. He has just landed in Spain with the purchase of Clarel perfumeries from the Dia group for around 42 million euros. González is the president of the Trinity group, a Colombian holding company with a presence in a dozen countries, with more than 12,000 employees in a dozen companies in sectors as diverse as mining, steel, restaurants, logistics, fertilizers, adventure tourism or downtown of conventions…
Last March he was chosen to join the Princess of Asturias Board of Trustees, an advisory body to the crown of Spain. It is also one of the main hosts of the congress of the Business Council Alliance for Ibero-America (CEAPI), a space that brings together Latin American businessmen with Spaniards to promote relationships and business on both sides of the Atlantic, which was held this week in Cartagena de Indians. With the incorporation of Clarel, the holding company that he directs reaches a turnover of close to 1,000 million dollars. The Spanish perfumery group represents a third of Trinity’s turnover and a similar percentage of all employees. González has committed to maintaining more than 3,500 workers in the perfumery network, while he is already studying new operations in Spain.
Ask. How was the operation to buy Clarel? He spent four or five years analyzing options to enter Spain.
Answer. I was looking to leave Colombia. We, who are a family business, had made a decision. Here all Colombians go to the United States. And I was considering returning to my Spanish roots. It was the opportunity to return to Spain, because in my case it is to return. We went there. For a long time we were watching. They introduced me to investment banking, Banco Santander, JP Morgan and Arcano, but nothing came up that hooked me. They introduced me to vineyards and they introduced me to restaurants, but I wasn’t interested in that. Suddenly Arcano (fund managers) appeared and told me ‘Omar, I have a different operation than what you do.’ I work in steel, mining and more things. And now selling hyaluronic acid and hair dye. But they insisted that I see it. And I found a beautiful company. The Dia group needed to get out. In fact, he left the Portugal operation. He sold some stores in Spain and now also in Brazil. I studied the company very carefully. In the end, when you see that it is a company that has 1,000 stores, that has 3,500 employees, 93% of them women, of 34 nationalities, well you say ‘it is worth coming here to work, to invest and to build’.
Q. The operation was 42 million, which is a lot of money, but the price does not seem excessive considering that there are 1,000 establishments and more than 3,000 people.
R. It was a good opportunity, because the negotiation was made based on the figures for the end of 2022 and the figures were bad. Clarel had some very big challenges. But just in 2023, the management that I encountered with the CEO at the head, made a tornado, a turn and that is why the figures closed better. Seen in time, when I did the business things were not good, but later they turned out much better than I expected.
Q. What plans do you have with the group?
R. The first thing we have to do is consolidate what we already found. We have 1,000 stores and we are thinking about redefining the format. We have four types of stores. It has been very successful, we are going to take other stores to that level. In a three-year process we are going to remodel 60% of them. We want entering our establishments to be an experience for our customers. We want the proximity of the store to be not only physical, but also emotional and emotional. Make it feel more comfortable, enter, have more light and offer more opportunities.
Q. How does that combine with a market in which more and more is sold online?
R. There is something that we have learned, which is very Spanish: people like to leave the house and walk and they like to enter places. We also see electronic commerce as an opportunity, which we do not have as developed today, but it is on our agenda to expand our online offering.
Q. Looking at your portfolio, you have investments in wineries, mining, logistics, coal, and a conference center. How is that compatible with a chain of perfumeries? What differential value can it provide?
R. What we have in common is that our businesses always have the client as an independent axis. Let them sell you one product or another here, whatever it may be. We always focus on how to serve the customer better and find a better deal. We come to him with a product, we find him with another, but we want to understand him well. Who is he? Who is she? What interests does she have? What experience can we generate for you? For us, the format, the conversation and so on changes a little, but we also have the teams for that. Strategically, the focus is on the human being, the client and our employee. Half of the stores are in Catalonia, in Madrid there are only about 30, so we will study the Spanish market to see if we can reach more spaces.
Q. He has stated that he does not rule out making new investments in Spain. What is it referring to? Are you studying any operations?
R. We already support Home Burger to enter Spain. And we have Clarel. We have become fashionable. Before I had to go and ask what they offered me. Nobody offered me anything. And now they call me. Our investment department is studying opportunities all day long. We receive more than we can study. Today we have nothing underway, not even an interest in doing something very quickly, because our main objective is the consolidation of Clarel. But clearly we are going to be studying and if an opportunity appears that is compatible and that completes our value chain we will do it. Today, at this moment, there is nothing, but surely in the future there will be.
Q. In Spain, some large companies have moved to other countries. Could it be the case that the Trinity group moved to Spain?
R. That possibility exists. Let’s leave it there.
Q. Where do you see the Trinity and Clarel group in five years?
R. I think that in five years, Clarel will not be able to double its current size, but it will surely be close. And the Trinity group, for me the most exciting thing, the most important thing, is that in five years we will have more than 20,000 collaborators. With that I declare myself satisfied.
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