Antoine Velge

Antoine Velge is SAPEC’s Chairman of the Board and Algaia’s Board Member since March 2019.

Born in France in 1957 and after living and studying in Portugal, Spain and Belgium, Antoine Velge graduated from the European Business School in Paris.

He started his career in the French investment bank Lazard Frères in 1984, in charge of emerging economies (Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria) and debt restructuring.

In 1987, he joined the SAPEC Group in Lisbon, founded by his family back in 1926. He was first responsible for the internationalization of the Group and developed new business areas such as Agri-commodities and chemical distribution.

In 1993, he became CEO of the SAPEC Group that he developed dramatically through M&A and organic growth, increasing the company’s value by a double digit number every year. It eventually reached a consolidated & recurring Ebitda of about 35m€. Until 2018, SAPEC was listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange market.

In 2016, Antoine led the divestment of SAPEC Agri-business to a Private Equity firm for 456m€ enterprise value. The cash was redeployed in various directions including a process of Public Repurchase Offer to make SAPEC fully privately owned.

In March 2019, he joined Algaia’s Board of Director after having, through his own capital and SAPEC’s investment acquired 31% of Algaia’s stake.