Grupo Nueva

What Grupo Nueva does

Grupo Nueva is a private investment holding company founded in 1998 by Swiss businessman Stephan Schmidheiny and headquartered in Panama City, Panama. The group's mandate is narrowly defined: it invests exclusively in the forestry and wood derivatives sector, with its entire investment portfolio concentrated in a single principal asset — Masisa, a publicly traded open stock company on the Santiago Stock Exchange in which Grupo Nueva holds a 69.83% controlling stake. The operating subsidiary is overseen through GN Holding S.A. in Santiago, Chile, and group ownership is held by the irrevocable VIVA Trust, with dividends reinvested in Latin American communities via the AVINA Foundation.

Through Masisa, the group operates a vertically integrated wood products platform producing particle boards, wood fiber boards, MDF moldings (275,000 m3/year), and sawn lumber (210,000 m3/year), supported by 877,000 m3/year of installed board capacity and 350,000 m3/year of melamine/film coating capacity. Products serve three documented customer segments — furniture and interior manufacturers (primary), construction industry, and retail/resellers — and are sold both directly to industrial buyers and through Placacentro MASISA, the largest specialized wood products retail network in Latin America with 98 outlets across Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia as of 2024.

Revenue mechanics flow through Grupo Nueva's equity stake in Masisa, which reported corporate sales of US$294.5 million in 2024 (excluding Venezuela). The group applies a Triple Bottom Line management approach — integrating financial returns with environmental and social objectives — operationalized through an internal Sustainability Scorecard. Group-level governance is exercised by a small Board of Directors reporting to the VIVA Trust committee, reflecting the holding's lean structure (51-100 employees) and its function as a long-term strategic shareholder rather than an operating enterprise.

Name

Grupo Nueva

Legal name

Grupo Nueva

Website

https://gruponueva.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Grupo Nueva is a private Panama-based investment holding company founded in 1998 that owns 69.83% of Masisa, a publicly traded Latin American manufacturer of wood boards, MDF moldings, and sawn lumber serving furniture, construction, and interior design customers across Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Forestry and Wood Derivatives Holding

NAICS

Timber Tract Operations (11311)

SIC

Lumber & Wood Products (No Furniture) (2400), Wholesale-Lumber, Plywood, Millwork & Wood Panels (5031), Forestry (800)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYIMAMAIAC

Plywood & Panel Products Distribution (Plywood, OSB, MDF, Particleboard)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Paper & Forest Products/Forest Products Distribution & Trading

SECONDARYIMAMAAAA

Timber Tract Operations & Forest Ownership (Timberland)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Paper & Forest Products/Forestry & Logging

SECONDARYIMAMAIAM

Forest Products Import/Export & Commodity Merchants

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Paper & Forest Products/Forest Products Distribution & Trading

Keywords

• Forestry investment holding
• Wood derivatives manufacturing
• Particleboard production
• MDF moldings manufacturing
• Sustainable forestry management

Headquarters

HQ city

Panama City

HQ country

Panama

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns from Masisa: Grupo Nueva generates returns through its 69.83% ownership stake in Masisa, a publicly traded company on the Santiago Stock Exchange that manufactures wood boards, moldings, and sawn lumber products

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Grupo Nueva is an investment holding company that focuses exclusively on the forestry and wood derivatives sector through its controlling 69.83% stake in Masisa, a publicly traded company on the Santiago Stock Exchange. Through Masisa, Grupo Nueva offers particle boards, MDF wood fiber boards, MDF moldings, and sawn lumber for furniture manufacturers, interior designers, and construction companies across Latin America, distributed via direct industrial sales and the 98-outlet Placacentro Masisa retail network spanning Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Product overview

Grupo Nueva is an investment holding company that operates as a unified portfolio focused on the forestry and wood derivatives sector. The company concentrates its investments in a single principal asset: Masisa (69.83% ownership). Masisa offers a comprehensive product portfolio including furniture and interior solutions (particle and wood fiber boards), moldings solutions (MDF moldings), and sawn wood solutions. These products are distributed through Masisa's own industrial complexes in Chile and Venezuela, as well as through the Placacentro MASISA retail network spanning 98 stores across Latin America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Masisa Wood Products Open stock company controlled by Grupo Nueva (69.83% ownership) that manufactures higher value-added particle boards, wood fiber boards, moldings, and sawn wood for furniture and interior architecture, with operations in Chile and Venezuela.
• Furniture and Interior Solutions Board product line from Masisa offering particle and wood fiber boards tailored for furniture manufacturing and interior architecture applications. Installed capacity of 877,000 m3 per year for manufacture of wood boards and 350,000 m3 per year for coating boards with melamine paper and film.
• Moldings Solution MDF molding manufacturing line from Masisa with 275,000 m3 annual capacity, serving construction applications, architectural elements, and interior design use cases.
• Sawn Wood Solution Sawn lumber product line from Masisa with 210,000 m3 annual production capacity for use in construction, furniture framing, and industrial wood products.
• Placacentro MASISA Retail Network Specialized retail network of 98 stores across Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) distributing Masisa wood products, boards, moldings, and sawn lumber directly to furniture makers, craftsmen, and small/medium manufacturers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Corporate sales of US$294.5 million in 2024

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AVINA FoundationminorOthersVIVA Trust dividends from Grupo Nueva are reinvested through AVINA Foundation to improve Latin American societies, creating a virtuous circle between business and civil society.
• GN Holding S.A.coreOthersGN Holding S.A. is the Chilean holding company representing Grupo Nueva as the parent company of Masisa S.A., operating under CMF (Comisión para el Mercado Financiero) regulation.
• MasisacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMasisa is the principal investment of Grupo Nueva. Grupo Nueva owns 69.83% of Masisa's shares. Masisa is an open stock company traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange, focused on manufacturing particle and wood fiber boards for furniture and interior architecture, with operations in Chile and Venezuela.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Stora Enso: Nordic integrated forest products company producing packaging, biomaterials, and wood products including sawn timber and engineered wood. Comparable on the upstream forestry/sawmill side of the value chain.
• LP Building Solutions: US-headquartered engineered wood products manufacturer (OSB, siding, panels) with growing Latin American presence. A broader incumbent peer with overlapping end markets (construction, furniture) but a different primary geographic footprint.
• West Fraser Timber: Diversified North American wood products company producing lumber, panels (OSB, plywood, MDF), and pulp. A broad incumbent peer in engineered wood products with similar capital-intensive manufacturing economics.
• EGGER Group: European family-owned manufacturer of wood-based panels (MDF, particleboard, OSB) with global distribution and a value-added product strategy. Competes with Masisa in international furniture/interior supply chains.
• Kronospan: Global private leader in wood-based panels (MDF, particleboard, laminates) with worldwide production. A scaled incumbent peer whose product mix, customer base, and vertical integration closely mirror Masisa's strategy.
• Boise Cascade: North American engineered wood products and building materials distributor. Comparable to Masisa in plywood/OSB and engineered-wood categories, though primarily serves the US housing market.

Direct peers

• ARAUCO: Chilean integrated forestry and wood-panel producer and one of Masisa's largest direct competitors in Latin America. Operates comparable MDF, particleboard, and sawn-lumber capacity across the region and competes for the same furniture and construction customers.
• Duratex (Dexco): Brazil's largest wood-panel manufacturer (MDF, MDP, laminates) and a direct peer to Masisa in engineered wood products for furniture and construction, with similar vertical integration and industrial-scale assets.

Emerging players

• Swiss Krono: European family-owned manufacturer of wood-based panels with growing international footprint (including a plant in the US). A scaled emerging peer in MDF and particleboard that competes in similar furniture/interior channels.
• Pfleiderer: European manufacturer of engineered wood panels (MDF, particleboard) and laminates serving furniture and interior customers. Comparable product portfolio and value-added panel strategy to Masisa, though primarily European-focused.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Grupo Nueva