Juan José Sartori Piñeyro (born 6 February 1981) is an international entrepreneur, investor, Uruguayan senator and co-owner of

Sunderland Association Football Club Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

. He is the president and founder of Union Group, a privately owned investment firm that holds significant interests across an array of industries worldwide, such as

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

and

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

Early life

At the age of 12, Sartori moved from Uruguay to France when his mother started working at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. He went on to study in Switzerland, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in Economics and Business from the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

in 2002.

Career

Union Group

Sartori's business career began in Switzerland in 2003 when having just graduated from university he founded Union Capital Group, which evolved into a multi-billion-dollar assets under management investment firm. Expanding into private equity, Sartori set up Union Group in Uruguay in 2007 with a blueberry farming business, subsequently branching out into other sectors such as infrastructure, energy and technology. Since its incorporation, Union Group and its subsidiaries have performed numerous transactions across the world, growing its portfolio of private and public companies. In 2013, Union Group's agricultural arm, one of the biggest agricultural organizations in Uruguay, floated on the Montevideo Stock Exchange. In June 2014, it accounted for approximately 70 percent of its market capitalisation, making it the largest company listed on the exchange. In 2010, Sartori began investing in energy generation projects. In 2013, Union Group acquired hydropower company Generacion Andina from German utility firm EnBW. In 2018, Polaris Infrastructure Inc. (

TSX The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...

: PIF), a Canadian business, purchased Union Group's energy division. Sartori is the co-founder and chairman of

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...

listed Union Acquisition Corp (UAC), a SPAC or

blank check company A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a "blank check company", is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company, thus making it public without going through the traditional i ...

, which has taken a number of organizations public over recent years, such as crop technology firm Bioceres Crop Solutions (

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

: BIOX) in 2018, and global healthcare business, Procaps Group (

: PROC) in 2021.

Politics

In December 2018, Sartori presented his nomination to the

President of Uruguay The president of Uruguay ( es, Presidente del Uruguay), officially known as the president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (), is the head of state and head of government of Uruguay. Their rights are determined in the Constitution of Urugua ...

for the 2019 primary elections, running as a Partido Nacional candidate. The election was held on 30 June 2019. Sartori carried out a noteworthy campaign, labelled a "political phenomenon" by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. He collected 20.68% of the vote, which saw him finish second of six behind current president

Luis Lacalle Pou Luis Alberto Aparicio Alejandro Lacalle Pou (; ''Luis Lacalle'' locally or ; born 10 August 1973) is a Uruguayan politician and lawyer serving as President of Uruguay since 1 March 2020. Son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle ...

. The Atlante Films documentary
Juan Sartori: behind the phenomenon
follows Sartori on the campaign trail. Sartori ran for the Senate in the October 2019 general election and was elected senator, making him the youngest person to currently hold this title, taking up the position on 15 February 2020. He sits on the Senate Committees of International Affairs, Environment, Development and Inclusion, and is president of the Industry Committee. Additionally, he forms part of the Partido Nacional's governing body.

Football

Sartori is a passionate football fan. He is a co-owner of

Sunderland AFC Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

. "Sunderland is a huge club, the seventh largest in England, a club with a lot of history and a big following, and that’s what made it attractive", he said following the 2018 acquisition. He sits on the board as a non-executive director. In 2022, the club, based in the North East of England, won the

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

playoffs and will play the following season in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

, the second most important division in English football. He is also a board member and vice president of AS Monaco Football Club.

Personal life

Sartori married Russian heiress and

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

Ekaterina Rybolovleva Ekaterina Dmitrievna Rybolovleva (born 4 June 1989, in Perm, Soviet Union) is a businesswoman, equestrian and socialite. She is the daughter of Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. A competitor in equestrian competitions, she is also the owner of ...

, on 21 October 2015, on the Greek island of

Skorpios Skorpios or Scorpios ( el, Σκορπιός, ) is a private island in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and just to the east of the island of Lefkada. The 2011 census reported a population of five inhabitants. Administratively it i ...

, which she bought from Athina Onassis in 2013.

References

External links

*
Union Capital Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sartori, Juan 1981 births Living people People from Montevideo Uruguayan people of Italian descent Uruguayan businesspeople University of Lausanne alumni Uruguayan emigrants to France Uruguayan emigrants to Switzerland National Party (Uruguay) politicians Candidates for President of Uruguay