Claudio Aguirre

Biography

Aguirre initially sought to follow the footsteps of his father and become a naval architect, but chose to study economics at the University of Madrid after his father's death. He graduated with a master's degree in Economics from IE Business School in Madrid in 1979. Upon his graduation, Aguiree joined Chase Manhattan, working first as a trainee in New York City, and later in London. In 1987, Aguiree returned to Spain, where, at the age of 31, he became the youngest-ever general manager at Chase Manhattan when he took charge of the bank's Spanish office. A few months later, Aguiree was appointed Head of Investment Banking for Spain and Portugal at Goldman Sachs (1987-1994). While at Goldman Sachs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he led almost every large Spanish privatization and M&A transaction. These included the sales of the first tranches of Spain's three largest state-owned companies, Telefónica (1989), Repsol (1990) and Endesa (1991). From 1994 to 2003, he served as the Head of Investment Banking and Private Wealth Services for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at Merrill Lynch. After his departure from Merril Lynch in 2003, Aguirre has been the Chairman and Co-Founding Partner of Altamar Private Equity S.L. He is also an International Advisor of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.