The Fund STAG Blue Transformation Fund 1

A private equity strategy focused on Portugal's blue economy — incremental innovation, scale and quality for European markets.

Back to the future

The know-how already exists. What’s missing is scale.

Five hundred years ago

Portugal's blue economy carries centuries of working knowledge: estuary aquaculture, world-class canning, cod-processing techniques with 500 years of history. This is not an emerging sector — it is a mature, under-capitalised one.

Today

Europe runs a €21.6 billion seafood trade deficit, and EU self-sufficiency has fallen to 37.5%. Portugal has the assets, the climate and the premium species that Nordic and Central European markets cannot produce. The opportunity is not to invent something new — it is to modernise, certify and export what already exists.

The future · 2026 → 2034

SBTF 1 is the vehicle for that transformation: institutional capital, vertical integration and technology in service of the product — not the other way around. That work is what produces European leadership in quality.

Return to the deep

Europe needs what Portugal can supply.

The European seafood market has a structural problem: it consumes 12% of global production but produces only 2%. Import dependency grows every year. For Portugal, that is an opportunity.

37.5%

EU seafood self-sufficiency. Declining since 2014 (was 46.1%).

EUMOFA 2022

€21.6B

EU seafood trade deficit in 2024.

EUMOFA

57%

of global seafood for human consumption now comes from aquaculture, not wild capture.

FAO SOFIA 2024

56 kg

per-capita consumption in Portugal, 3× the European average. The highest in Europe.

EUMOFA

Three verticals, one value chain.

The fund invests along the entire Portuguese seafood value chain, capturing margin at multiple points and creating synergies between verticals.

01

Sustainable Aquaculture

50% of the fund · €63M

An estuary aquaculture platform anchored by NaturaFish (Alvor + Arade, Algarve). European seabass and gilthead seabream raised in a natural environment, with certifiable traceability and bolt-on capacity. Growth through selective acquisition of adjacent assets — not multiple speculation.

  • Premium species with growing demand across European markets
  • Estuary-pond model with lower environmental impact than intensive aquaculture
  • Path to ASC certification when commercially justified
  • Current combined capacity: ~1,200 tonnes/year (Alvor + Arade)
02

Seafood Processing

35% of the fund · €44.1M

Consolidation of the downstream industrial layer: canning, cod processing, cold chain and distribution. The objective is to turn commodity operators — under-scaled and under-automated — into export platforms with sustainable margins and access to premium European channels.

  • A sector dominated by family-owned SMEs with open succession questions
  • Operational modernisation as the engine of EBITDA expansion
  • Portugal has world-reference product: sardine, tuna, cod
  • Active pipeline: canneries (MBO underway) + B2C platform (under evaluation)
03

BlueTech

15% of the fund · €18.9M

Technology in service of the product. IoT, sensors, AI, automation and traceability to improve yield, energy efficiency and quality across Verticals 1 and 2. BlueTech is not a standalone technology bet — it is an operational multiplier for the portfolio.

  • Aquaculture monitoring and decision support (sensors + analytics)
  • Digital traceability and compliance (chain-of-custody, audit-readiness)
  • Processing automation and yield optimisation
  • Cold-chain optimisation and energy efficiency
Aerial photograph of NaturaFish's aquaculture farms in the Algarve estuary: geometric water ponds framed by golden earth embankments.

Portfolio under construction

Anchor asset · The fund's first investment

NaturaFish

NaturaFish is the anchor platform of Vertical 1. It operates two estuary aquaculture farms in the Algarve with integrated production and processing infrastructure. Combined capacity of ~1,200 tonnes/year. Investment: €16.1M.

Alvor

19 ha · 19 ponds · ~550 t/year

Arade

21 ha · 22 ponds · ~650 t/year

The fund is evaluating 2 additional acquisitions in Vertical 1 and 2 targets in Vertical 2 (including cannery consolidation and a B2C platform). Details available in the CIM for qualified investors.

NaturaFish facilities, Alvor and Arade estuaries — Algarve.

Sustainability

A fund with impact — not an impact fund.

SBTF 1 is an investment fund with impact — not an impact fund. Financial return is the primary objective and is not subordinated to non-financial criteria. Sustainability is treated as management discipline: measured, planned and improved because it drives market access, price premium and exit value. We state the distinction plainly because it carries legal and commercial consequences.

  1. Rated at entry and exit

    Every company is assessed against a defined sustainability rating methodology at acquisition. The same methodology is applied again at exit. What changes between those two points is measured rather than estimated, and attributable to the fund's work over the holding period.

  2. Two plans, one investment

    No investment enters the portfolio on a financial plan alone. Each company also carries a sustainability upgrade plan, with defined actions and timelines, executed over the same horizon and reviewed on the same cadence. Certification, resource efficiency and traceability are value-creation work — not reporting.

  3. Independent verification

    Sustainability objectives achieved are verified by a third party independent of the fund and of its portfolio companies, and that verification is the basis on which results are published. What cannot be verified externally is not presented to investors as a result.

The full methodology, each company's upgrade plan and the verified results are presented to investors.

Structure & Terms

Target fund size
€126M Class A + B + C
Target annual return
20% IRR¹
Term
8 years 2026–2034
Verticals
3 Aquaculture · Processing · BlueTech

Managed by STAG Fund Management · €450M AUM · 1,000+ investors · 50+ nationalities · Regulated by the CMVM

¹ Target return, not guaranteed. Investing in SBTF 1 involves risk, including the risk of partial or total loss of invested capital. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Team

SBTF 1 Team

António Castel-Branco

António Castel-Branco

Operating Partner, SBTF 1

Operational experience across aquaculture and the blue economy. Responsible for portfolio management and development. Chairman of NaturaFish; previously senior roles at Barclays Bank and BPI. MBA, IE Business School.

João Reis

João Reis

Fund Advisor, SBTF 1

Specialist in investment fund structuring and capital markets. Supports strategy and investor relations. 20+ years in the blue economy; former Board Member at Docapesca and advisor to the Secretary of State for Fisheries.

Gonçalo Videira

Gonçalo Videira

Fund Advisor, SBTF 1

Specialist in commercial strategy and route to market in food retail. Supports the commercial growth of portfolio companies. Director at Sonae, with a c. €40M aquaculture vertical integration approved at board level; previously at P&G, Microsoft and L’Oréal. MBA, INSEAD.

STAG Investment Committee & Management

Manuel Pinto de Abreu

Manuel Pinto de Abreu

IC Member, STAG

10+ years of international business development across real estate, energy and technology.

João Fialho

João Fialho

IC Member, STAG

10+ years in structured finance at Santander, managing collateralised portfolios exceeding €20B.

Diogo Saraiva Ponte

Partner & Co-CEO, STAG

Co-leads STAG Fund Management, a CMVM-regulated management company with €450M in assets under management.

António Pereira

Partner & Co-CEO, STAG

Co-leads STAG Fund Management, responsible for the management company's strategy and regulatory relations.

Gisela Martins

Board Member, STAG

Member of the Board of Directors of STAG Fund Management.

Nathan Hellmann

Nathan Hellmann

Director of Business Development, STAG

Leads business development and relationships with institutional investors and family offices.

Investment Process

All communications are treated with strict confidentiality. The investment process is structured in 5 steps.

  1. 01

    Initial contact

    Submit your interest through the form or by direct e-mail.

  2. 02

    CIM access

    Full documentation available to qualified investors after validation.

  3. 03

    Meetings

    One-on-one sessions with António Castel-Branco, João Reis and the senior STAG team. Includes technical Q&A.

  4. 04

    Due diligence

    Verification of the audited track record, legal review of fund documents and meetings with portfolio companies (subject to confidentiality).

  5. 05

    Subscription

    Subscription documentation and capital commitment.

Nathan Hellmann

Director of Business Development

nh@stagfundmanagement.com

+351 924 819 128

investor.relations@stagfundmanagement.com

Request the CIM Book a Meeting

Response within 2 business days. All communications treated with strict confidentiality.

Ecosystem & Partners

  • Finnova
  • BE Corporate
  • Fórum Oceano