Miquel Suqué Mateu, businessman of the Peralada Group, dies at the age of 63.

BarcelonaBusinessman Miquel Suqué, who headed the Peralada Group with his two siblings, Javier and Isabel, passed away this Sunday at the age of 63. A member of the fourth generation of the family, Suqué co-led a conglomerate with businesses in wines, hotels, restaurants, museums, festivals, leisure centers and also an automobile brand: the historic Hispano Suiza, of which he was president.

In fact, not many years ago Suqué relaunched the company with a new 100% electric model, theHispano Suiza Carmen, in honor of Carmen Mateu, their mother. In March 2019, the three brothers presented this exclusive model at the Geneva Motor Show, of which only 19 units have been manufactured, and last year, this historic Catalan brand celebrated its 120th anniversary with the world premiere of the Hispano Suiza Carmen Sagrera.

Suqué was Executive Vice President of the Peralada Group, and beyond his dedication to the relaunch of Hispano Suiza, he worked on the expansion and development of the group's casino line in Latin America. This commitment began in 2000, when he was appointed to that position, with the opening of two large leisure centers in Argentina. Previously, Suqué had earned a law degree and trained in business administration in the United States, specializing in tourism and leisure. In 1990, he founded a landscaping and gardening company, Viridis Paisajismo, and it wasn't until three years later, in 1993, that he joined the Peralada Group.

Alongside his professional career, Suqué has been involved in social, cultural, and business activities within Catalan society, such as the Círculo Ecuestre de Barcelona, ​​the Real Club de Tenis de Barcelona, ​​and the Círculo de Economía, among others. He was also a member of the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona and served on the board of directors of Barça from 1999 to 2001. In 2014, he was appointed president of the Spanish Association of Gaming Casinos (AECJ). Silvia Paneque, the regional minister for Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition of the Catalan government, mourned his death in a publication in X, in which she offered her condolences to the family and highlighted Suqué as a "key figure in the business and cultural world, deeply rooted in the Empordà region and the country." The employers' association Foment de Treball, also in X, remembered Suqué as a "businessman through and through who knew how to expand his family legacy and become a benchmark in innovation wherever he participated."

Like his brothers, Suqué was the great-grandson of Damià Mateu, the businessman, art collector and patron With the creation of Hispano Suiza in 1904, he embarked on a business career that within a few years expanded into the world of wines and cavas with the purchase of an emblem that would give the winery its name: the Castell de Peralada. In the 1970s, the group opened its first casinos in Catalonia, and in the late 1980s, the Peralada Festival was born, then dedicated entirely to classical music. It wasn't until 2015 that Miquel Suqué, along with his siblings Isabel and Javier, took over the responsibility of the group's business. A few years later, in 2018, his mother, Carmen Mateu, died at the age of 81. Mateu was the driving force behind the festival, which will celebrate its 39th edition this year. Three years later, His father and creator of the Peralada Group, Artur Suqué, died at the age of 90..

In 2022, on the centenary of the wineries, the Perelada Group recorded revenues of 210 million euros, of which 64 came from the wine business, concentrated in the Perelada-Chivite subsidiary. The remainder came from the Castell de Peralada complex—which includes a hotel, restaurants, a golf course, a museum, and the Music Festival—and the casino business.