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Aethel Partners is a London-based investment firm specializing in private equity and alternative asset management. Founded in 2014 by Ricardo Santos Silva and Aba Rosa Schubert[1][2], Aethel has been involved in a series of high-profile acquisitions and investment bids. The firm has notably attempted to acquire distressed financial institutions (such as Portugal’s Novo Banco and Uganda’s Crane Bank)[1][3], invested in mining and technology ventures (including the iron ore-focused Aethel Mining and startup Dorae)[4][5], and even made a bid to buy the English football club Chelsea F.C. in 2022[6]. Aethel’s transactions have drawn significant media attention and regulatory scrutiny, reflecting its aggressive special situations investment strategy and the prominent figures associated with the firm.[7][8]
Overview
Aethel Partners operates as a global private investment house headquartered in London, United Kingdom.[9] It is structured as a limited liability partnership and functions largely as a family office managing the private capital of its founders. Santos Silva and Schubert established Aethel Partners in 2014 after careers in international finance (he as a deputy president at Lyxor Asset Management, and she as a partner at Eton Park Capital Management.[1] The firm targets undervalued or distressed (special situation) assets across different sectors and geographies.[2]
History
Ricardo Santos Silva and Aba Schubert founded Aethel Partners in mid-2014, aiming to leverage their finance backgrounds to invest in opportunistic deals.[1] In 2015, Aethel led a consortium to purchase Banco Efisa, a small investment bank that was being sold by the Portuguese government as part of the Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) bailout aftermath. Aethel’s vehicle, Pivot SGPS, agreed to acquire Banco Efisa for €38.3 million.[10] The deal’s terms proved controversial because the price was below a recent state recapitalization of the bank, and one of Pivot’s key investors was former Portuguese minister Miguel Relvas, raising concerns about transparency.[10] Regulatory approval from the European Central Bank was delayed while authorities evaluated the fitness of the buying consortium. After extended scrutiny through 2016, the sale was eventually finalized, bringing Banco Efisa under Aethel’s ownership by 2017. [11]
In early 2017, Aethel Partners made a bid for Novo Banco, Portugal’s third-largest lender that had been carved out of the failed Banco Espírito Santo. In a letter of intent to the government, Aethel offered a package worth up to €4 billion for Novo Banco.[12] This proposal included €2.8 billion to reimburse the national bank resolution fund and a €1 billion capital injection into Novo Banco itself, in exchange for a 91% ownership stake.[1] Aethel’s bid significantly exceeded the competing offer from U.S. private equity fund Lone Star, which proposed injecting €1 billion for a 75% stake.[1] However, the Bank of Portugal had already entered exclusive negotiations with Lone Star by that point. In March 2017, regulators announced the sale of Novo Banco to Lone Star, effectively rejecting Aethel’s higher bid. Aethel responded by instructing its lawyers to challenge the decision and seek an injunction to halt the sale, arguing that its bid had not been properly considered.[1] The legal challenge which alleged flaws in the sale process did not succeed in overturning the outcome, and Lone Star assumed control of Novo Banco later in 2017.
Around the same time, Aethel Partners was involved in the international bidding process for Crane Bank in Uganda. Crane Bank had been taken over by the Bank of Uganda in late 2016 due to insolvency, and in January 2017 the central bank sought a buyer. Aethel emerged as the only non-African finalist among the 13 initial interested parties.[3] By February 2017, Aethel’s offer for Crane Bank made the final shortlist of two, alongside local institution DFCU Bank.[3] Aethel’s bid was unconventional: it proposed to acquire Crane Bank for a nominal 1 Ugandan shilling, while committing to invest US$215 million to recapitalize the bank and purge bad loans.[3] Aethel also intended to close 20 of Crane’s 46 branches and requested that the central bank assume some of the failed lender’s liabilities.[3] In contrast, DFCU offered to pay a positive price, immediately inject about $21.6 million, keep all branches open, and take on all of Crane Bank’s verified debts.[3] Citing the greater certainty of DFCU’s offer on protecting depositors and maintaining operations, the Bank of Uganda accepted DFCU’s bid and rejected Aethel’s proposal. Crane Bank was thus sold to DFCU in January 2017, and Aethel’s attempt to enter the Ugandan banking sector did not materialize.
Despite these setbacks, Aethel Partners continued to expand its portfolio. In 2018, the firm’s principals sold its stake in Chargemaster, the United Kingdom’s largest electric vehicle charging network operator. Chargemaster was acquired by oil major BP in June 2018 as part of BP’s push into electric mobility.[13] Following the sale, Aethel’s founders announced plans to reinvest a portion of the proceeds into their technology venture Dorae and to expand that company’s operations in Portugal.[13]
In the telecommunications arena, Aethel was rumored to be eyeing an acquisition in 2018. In August of that year, Portuguese weekly Expresso reported that Aethel was in talks with investors to assemble a bid for Altice Portugal (the country’s largest telecom and media company, formerly known as Portugal Telecom).[14] The prospect of Aethel-led ownership of such a major telecom asset caused a stir, but Altice quickly issued a public statement denying any active sale process. Altice Portugal’s communiqué labeled the sale reports as “rumors” and “speculation,” noting that similar conjecture tended to recur given a difficult regulatory environment.[14] No formal offer from Aethel for Altice Portugal ever emerged, and the rumors subsided.
By 2019–2020, Aethel Partners saw progress in its mining venture. The firm’s subsidiary Aethel Mining had secured a 30-year concession (signed in 2016) to reopen the iron ore mines in Torre de Moncorvo, northern Portugal.[15] The Moncorvo iron deposit, one of the largest in Europe with an estimated 558 million tons of reserves, had been inactive since the 1980s.[15] Aethel invested in modernizing the site, and mining operations officially restarted in 2020 after 37 years of dormancy. However, regulatory challenges arose in the following years. In April 2025, the Portuguese government announced its intention to revoke Aethel Mining’s concession at Moncorvo, citing the company’s alleged failure to meet certain legal and contractual obligations of the contract.[16]
Business operations
Aethel Partners’ business activities span several sectors, with a common strategy of targeting assets that require turnaround investment or creative financial structuring. As a principal investor, Aethel has taken equity stakes in companies across banking, mining, technology, and infrastructure. In finance, Aethel has acquired banking assets and pursued other bank acquisitions. In natural resources, Aethel Mining operates Torre de Moncorvo iron ore mines in Portugal, which are among the largest private iron ore deposits in Europe.[15][4] In technology, Aethel’s team co-founded Dorae, a blockchain platform aimed at improving supply-chain transparency for raw materials.[5]
Banco Efisa
Banco Efisa is a Lisbon-based investment and merchant bank that came under Aethel Partners’ control as one of the firm’s first major deals. Efisa was previously a subsidiary of BPN (Banco Português de Negócios) and had remained with the Portuguese state after BPN’s collapse and nationalization in 2008. In late 2015, Parparticipadas (the state holding entity) put Banco Efisa up for sale. The winning bidder was Pivot SGPS, a special-purpose company backed by Aethel Partners and a group of Angolan and Portuguese investors.[10] Pivot agreed to pay €38 million for 100% of Banco Efisa, and the sale contract was signed in October 2015.
Pivot’s shareholder structure included Aethel’s founders Ricardo Santos Silva and Aba Schubert, former government minister Miguel Relvas and former Bank of Angola Governor Mario Palhares.[10] The involvement of Relvas, a politically controversial figure, and the below-book value price prompted criticism from some quarters. The Bank of Portugal and the European Central Bank delayed final approval of the sale until reviews of the investors were completed. [17]
Novo Banco
Novo Banco is the bridge bank that was formed in 2014 from the resolution of Banco Espírito Santo (BES), once Portugal’s second-largest private bank. Aethel Partners became involved in Novo Banco’s disposition during the second attempt to sell the bank. In early 2017, as the Bank of Portugal sought a buyer, Aethel launched an eleventh-hour bid that significantly surpassed other offers in headline value.[12] Aethel’s proposal envisioned the firm and its backers taking a 91% stake in Novo Banco and providing approximately €3.8–4.0 billion in value: €2.8 billion earmarked for the national bank Resolution Fund (to reimburse past bailout costs) plus €1.0 billion as fresh capital for Novo Banco.[1]
Aethel’s bid was submitted after formal bidding had closed, at a time when the authorities were already negotiating exclusively with Lone Star Funds.[18] Lone Star’s offer, by comparison, was to inject €1 billion for a 75% stake, with no upfront payment to the Resolution Fund.[1] On 18 March 2017, the Bank of Portugal announced it had selected Lone Star as the buyer, effectively sidelining Aethel’s late offer. Aethel Partners publicly contested this outcome. The company argued that maximizing taxpayer value should have compelled the authorities to consider its higher bid, and it accused the central bank of leading it “up the garden path” during the process. Aethel filed legal actions in Portugal aiming to block or reverse the Lone Star deal .[1]
The legal battle saw Aethel requesting injunctions and the disclosure of information about the sale procedure. Nonetheless, those efforts did not prevent the completion of the Lone Star transaction in October 2017. Lone Star took control of Novo Banco with the Portuguese Resolution Fund retaining a 25% stake. After the sale, Aethel’s leadership continued to criticize the decision in media interviews, claiming their proposal would have been more beneficial to Portugal by avoiding further taxpayer exposure.[1] However, the dispute did spark scrutiny: during a subsequent parliamentary inquiry in Lisbon, the official who led the Novo Banco sale (Sérgio Monteiro) testified that regulators had harbored concerns about Aethel’s financing sources, specifically, there was a suspicion (never confirmed) of links between Aethel’s bid and members of the Espírito Santo banking family. Aethel vehemently denied any connection to the Espírito Santo family, calling such allegations “false and defamatory” in a public statement. [19][8]
Aethel Mining
Aethel Mining is the mining and natural resources arm of Aethel Partners. Founded in 2015, Aethel Mining acquired the concession to operate the Torre de Moncorvo iron mines in Portugal, which are among Europe’s largest iron ore deposits.[15] The Moncorvo iron ore site, located in the Bragança district, contains an estimated 558 million tons of proven and probable reserves of high-grade iron ore.[15]
In November 2016, the Portuguese government granted Aethel Mining a 30-year concession (with possible extensions) to reactivate the Moncorvo mines.[15] Aethel Mining began preparatory work and investment in 2017–2018, including environmental studies and updating infrastructure. By March 2020, the mines officially resumed operations, marking the first production of iron ore from Moncorvo in 37 years. Aethel’s plans for Moncorvo included ramping up annual iron ore output and potentially developing downstream processing, with projections that the project could significantly contribute to the local economy and exports.
However, the Moncorvo venture encountered difficulties. In late 2020 and 2021, production at the mine was intermittently halted due to regulatory and environmental compliance issues (including a suspension linked to an Environmental Impact Assessment review). A dispute arose over whether Aethel Mining had fulfilled all environmental benchmarks under the concession agreement. On 7 April 2025, Portuguese Government stated that Aethel had failed to meet certain agreed targets and deadlines. Aethel Mining asserted that it had complied with its obligations. As of 2025, the outcome of this conflict remains pending, and mining activities at Moncorvo have been paused pending resolution.[16]
Dorae
Dorae is a technology startup co-founded by Aethel’s principals that focuses on supply chain management.[5] Dorae’s co-founders are Aba Schubert and Ricardo Santos Silva, who run the venture alongside their roles at Aethel Partners.[5] In early 2018, Dorae launched pilot projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to track cobalt and coltan from mining sites through exporters to manufacturers. Dorae team met with President Joseph Kabila, who endorsed it as a tool to improve oversight of the mining sector.[5]
Chelsea F.C. bid
In 2022, Aethel Partners entered the race to buy the English football club Chelsea F.C.. The club was put up for sale in March 2022 after its owner, Roman Abramovich, faced sanctions by the UK government (in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine). Aethel Partners confirmed that it submitted an official bid for Chelsea ahead of the sale deadline.[6] According to the firm’s statement, Aethel’s offer exceeded £2 billion (approximately $2.6 billion) for the club.[6] Aethel also said it would provide an immediate £50 million financing facility to Chelsea to address any short-term funding needs during the transition.[20] Ultimately, a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital was chosen as the preferred bidder and completed the purchase of Chelsea in May 2022. [21]
Chargemaster investment and sale
Chargemaster was a UK-based company that operates electric vehicle charging stations. Chargemaster grew to become the largest EV charging network in Britain, with thousands of charging points and tens of thousands of customers relying on its services. The company also developed proprietary technologies for efficient charging of electric car batteries.[13] In July 2018, global energy company BP announced an agreement to acquire Chargemaster as part of its strategy to diversify into clean energy and electric mobility. The deal valued Chargemaster at £130 million (approximately $170 million or €146 million). Aethel sold its stake in Chargemaster to BP as part of this transaction.[13]
Crane Bank bid
Aethel Partners’ attempt to acquire Crane Bank in Uganda was a notable example of the firm’s interest in distressed banking assets beyond its home markets. Crane Bank was Uganda’s fourth-largest commercial bank until it collapsed in 2016 under the weight of non-performing loans and was taken over by the Bank of Uganda. In January 2017, the central bank solicited bids from investors to take over Crane Bank’s operations and assets. Aethel Partners joined the bidding process, making it an outlier as the only non-African bidder among more than a dozen interested institutions.[3]
After several initial bidders dropped out upon examining Crane Bank’s financial condition, Aethel Partners was shortlisted. By early February 2017, Aethel and DFCU Bank (a Ugandan bank) were the two final contenders for the acquisition.[3] Aethel’s bid proposed an unconventional restructuring plan. Rather than paying a substantial sum upfront, Aethel offered a symbolic UGX 1/= purchase price, effectively seeking to assume ownership for free. In return, Aethel committed to inject around US$215 million of new capital into Crane Bank to recapitalize it and cover cleanup of the balance sheet (writing off bad debts).[3] Aethel’s plan also envisioned downsizing the bank’s footprint and intended to close 20 out of Crane’s 46 branches that were deemed unprofitable and retain 26 branches to focus on core operations.[3]
A key sticking point was Aethel’s stance on Crane Bank’s liabilities. Aethel reportedly insisted that it would only absorb part of the failed bank’s debts, and that the Bank of Uganda should bear the rest (given the irregularities and losses that had occurred before intervention).[3] In contrast, DFCU Bank’s bid offered a more straightforward resolution: DFCU agreed to purchase Crane Bank’s assets and goodwill, assume all its deposit liabilities and other obligations, keep all employees and branches, and immediately inject capital to meet regulatory requirements.[3][22] DFCU’s offer was therefore seen as providing greater continuity and less risk to depositors and the financial system.
On 27 January 2017, the Bank of Uganda announced that DFCU’s bid had been accepted and it would take over Crane Bank. Aethel’s bid was turned down. Subsequent reports indicated that Aethel’s conditional approach (particularly the demand for government recapitalization and branch closures) was a major factor in its bid’s failure.[3]
Altice Portugal rumor
In mid-2018, Aethel Partners was indirectly associated with takeover speculation in Portugal’s telecom sector. In August 2018, the Portuguese newsweekly Expresso reported that Aethel together with former minister Miguel Relvas was preparing a bid for Altice Portugal.[14] Altice Portugal (formerly PT Telecom/MEO) is the country’s largest telecommunications company, owned by Patrick Drahi’s Altice Europe.
The report gained enough traction that Altice Portugal issued a formal response. In a statement on 25 August 2018 (and similarly in later instances of market talk), Altice categorically denied that any sale was underway, dismissing the news as “rumors and speculations”.[14] Altice’s management affirmed that the Portuguese operation was performing well and that no divestment process was active, though they acknowledged that such rumors tend to surface periodically in a challenging, competitive telecom market.[14] The Portuguese government was also reportedly not aware of any impending deal. Aethel Partners did not publicly comment on the matter at the time. No concrete offer for Altice Portugal materialized from Aethel, and by the end of 2018 the speculation subsided.[14]
Regulatory and legal issues
Aethel Partners’ aggressive investment activities have occasionally led to regulatory scrutiny and legal disputes. The Banco Efisa acquisition, for instance, raised governance questions due to the involvement of politically exposed persons. In 2016, as Portugal’s central bank and the ECB reviewed Aethel’s purchase of Efisa, members of Parliament demanded clarity on whether Miguel Relvas met the fit-and-proper criteria for bank ownership. The approval process was prolonged, and Pivot had to issue statements clarifying Relvas’s role (stating he would be a passive shareholder with no management duties at Banco Efisa) to assuage concerns.[10]
Another example is Aethel’s legal challenge over Novo Banco. After Aethel’s higher bid was passed over in 2017, the firm pursued judicial avenues to obtain information and potentially reverse the decision.[1] Aethel’s lawyers filed proceedings in Portugal seeking an injunction on the Lone Star sale, alleging that the bidding process was not conducted fairly.[1] Although Aethel ultimately did not prevail in court, the case added to public debate about the transparency of the bank’s resolution and sale. It also put pressure on the Bank of Portugal, which had to defend its procedure amid accusations from Aethel that the process was biased or predetermined. [8]
Aethel’s mining project, too, became entangled in regulatory issues. The Torre de Moncorvo mine concession faced strict environmental regulations, and local activists raised concerns about the impact of resumed mining on the environment. In 2020, Portugal’s Environment Agency temporarily halted Aethel Mining’s operations, citing an inadequate environmental impact study in the company’s implementation plan. Though operations resumed after additional mitigation measures, the government’s decision in 2025 to revoke the concession entirely was the most severe regulatory action against Aethel to date. The official reason given was non-compliance with contract terms, a claim Aethel disputes.[15]
Public and media perception
Aethel Partners has developed a high-profile reputation but Aethel has also been met with criticism. Media outlets have at times labeled Aethel vulture fund, grouping it with opportunistic investors looking to profit from distressed situations.[2] Several newspapers highlighted how Aethel tried to insert itself late into the Novo Banco sale, implying it was attempting to upset an already-negotiated deal.[1] The revelation of Miguel Relvas’s involvement in Banco Efisa brought negative publicity as well, given Relvas’s controversial political past; his presence led to what one newspaper called “the unwelcome specter” of a disgraced politician in an important financial transaction.[10]
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