MADRID — LLYC, the communications and public affairs agency focused on the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world, has taken a 70% stake in the Spanish advertising agency China.

The announcement comes after LLYC, which changed its name to Llorente & Cuenca in 2019, debuted on BME Growth, the Spanish stock market, on July 22. The company’s shares began trading at €9.39, giving it an opening value of €109 million, and the company closed its first day at €12.40 per share.

China’s three founding partners – Marta Aguirrezabal, Rafa Antón and Pedro Calderón – will retain a stake and continue to lead the agency, which will operate independently.

The move is the latest step in LLYC’s plans to double in size over the next five years. It has acquired seven other agencies over the past six years: Impossible Tellers (Spain, 2015), S/A Comunicaçao (Brazil, 2015), EDF (United States, 2015), Arenalia (Spain, 2018), Diplolicy (Spain , 2018), Factor C (Chile, 2020) and Apache (Spain, 2021).

LLYC Founding Partner and President, José Antonio Llorente, said: “With China, we are strengthening what we offer to our customers in line with market demands that are increasingly focused on the integration of services and solutions, which include strategic vision, creativity and the intelligent use of technology.

At China, Founding Partner and Executive Director Aguirrezabal added, “Since founding China 11 years ago, we have had wonderful experiences. Now, with LLYC, we have a tremendous opportunity to continue to improve our team and the work we do for our clients. We couldn’t ask for a better travel partner.”

LLYC now has around 600 employees in 16 offices in Argentina, Brazil (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), the United States (Miami, New York and Washington, DC), Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal and the Dominican Republic. His client list includes Bayer, FC Barcelona, ​​Mercedes Benz, Netflix and Aldi.

In April this year, LLYC bought out the 30% stake purchased by private equity firm MBO & Co in 2015, helping to fuel the agency’s growth.