The business group chaired by the Panamanian Stanley Motta may be interested in acquiring units of Citi's consumer banking operations in Panama and Costa Rica.
It is not yet been revealed which of Citibank' consumer banking companies in Panama and Costa Rica they may be interested in acquiring. However, potential stakeholders include the General Bank of Panama and Grupo ASSA, which in addition to being insurers, also runs La Hipotecaria.
The bank, owned by Colombia's Grupo Aval has bought Grupo Financiero, which includes Banco Reformador in Guatemala and Transcom Bank Limited of Barbados.
The only thing now pending is approval of this transaction by the financial market's supervisory authorities in the country. According to the general manager of BAC San José in Costa Rica, Gerardo Corrales, the intention of this purchase is to strengthen corporate banking in the Guatemalan market..
HSBC Latin America Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, has entered into an agreement to sell HSBC Bank (Panama) SA to Bancolombia SA for a total consideration of US$2.1bn in cash.
HSBC Latin America Holdings (UK) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc (“HSBC”), has entered into an agreement to sell HSBC Bank (Panama) SA to Bancolombia SA (“Bancolombia”) for a total consideration of US$2.1bn in cash, based upon estimated net asset value at completion of US$700m. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions and is expected to complete by the third quarter of 2013.
The largest financial institution in Colombia is looking in Latin America for good opportunities to acquire assets.
Bancolombia started its regional expansion in 2007 by buying Banagrícola in El Salvador, for $900 million.
Although the president of Grupo Bancolombia, Carlos Raul Yepes, notes that "for now there aren't any businesses that are catching our eye," he did confirm that they are looking for businesses that are "good, nice and cheap."
The financial group Grupo Aval as part of its expansion plans in the region, has announced its intentions to acquire certain assets from HSBC.
Nacion.com reported statements by Luis Carlos Sarmiento, president of Grupo Aval, published in Portfolio,
"We are following everything closely. It seems that HSBC has organized a sale of its assets in some Central American countries, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Colombia."
Grupo Aval completed the purchase of BAC-Credomatic completing the transaction for the purchase price of $ 1,920 million.
Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, president of the board of Grupo Aval, which owns 75% of Banco de Bogota, told the press, "We hope to expand the product range and offer new services designed to meet Colombian customers established in Central America and Central American customers doing business in Colombia.”
Grupo Aval would finalize the purchase this year, once it has authorizations from regulatory agencies.
The announcement was made by the president of Banco de Bogota (part of Grupo Aval), Germain Salazar.
Larepublica.com.co reports, "in order to get the resources for this transaction, which will be of 1,900 million dollars, Banco de Bogota announced the issuance of 2.200 million pesos in bonds convertible into shares ($ 1,220 million Dollars)."
GE Capital Global Banking announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell BAC Credomatic to Grupo Aval, Colombia’s largest banking holding group, for $1.9 billion.
The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, and the parties anticipate closing by the end of 2010.
“This is a good deal for GE, and furthers our objective of reducing the overall size of GE Capital,” said Dmitri Stockton, president and CEO of GE Capital Global Banking. “We have enjoyed working with BAC’s shareholders and their world-class management team to successfully grow the franchise over the previous five years. We believe this transaction will be positive for BAC, and will allow the Bank to focus solely on its excellent prospects for future growth.”
The Colombian Bank has made an offer to purchase 100% of BAC-Credomatic’s shares.
The value of the offer was kept private, but it was known that it expires on the afternoon of June 10.
“After being authorized by the board of ‘Banco de Bogotá’, its president instructed one of its subsidiaries to make an offer for 100% of the shares of BAC-Credomatic Central America”, said a source from the Colombian Financial Superintendence to Terra.com.
Juan Carlos Sansón, general manager of BAC-Credomatic, stated that GE’s sale of BAC-Credomatic shares is “nothing but a rumor”.
He told newspaper La Prensa that they don’t have any official information confirming that General Electric intends to sell Bac-Credomatic. He did acknowledge, however, that GE intends to reduce its participation in the financial market.