Banco Davivienda of Grupo Bolívar is reportedly working on a deal with Scotiabank for their Colombia and Central America assets.
Rumors of a sale started in December 2023 when president and CEO of Scotiabank, Scott Thomson, announced a global strategy to seek higher returns from developed markets. At the time, Thomson said they would analyze how Latin American business performed in 2024 and 2025.
Speaking to Diario Financiero Sudamérica, JP Tactical Trading CEO Juan Pablo Vieira says the companies agreed on a deal, but transaction amount remains unknown.
“It must be a very significant figure because it is the most important financial transaction in the Colombia sector this year,” he added.
After Thomson’s end of year speech, there were talks with several financial institutions with Davivienda’s considered the best offer, according to economics publication Primera Página.
Scotiabank entered the Colombia market in 2012 when it bought 51% of Colpatria from GE Capital for around $500 million. In 2018, they added the Citibank Colombia portfolio.
The Pachehco family, founders of Colpatria, still have 43.9% of the business and demanded an additional premium on their shares to compensate for the recent downturn in price. According to local reports, this was accepted by Scotiabank and Davivienda.
President of Davivienda, Javier Suárez, admitted the bank was interested in opportunities and that they were working on mergers and acquisitions but refused to confirm that the purchase of Scotia’s assets had been finalized.
“For the past 25 years, we have been looking for opportunities. We have our team that is looking for inorganic opportunities as a day-to-day job. We have seen some,” says Suárez.
It is believed that Scotia is negotiating the sale of its retail business to Davivienda, which has 24.3 million customers in Latin America. However, they will remain in Colombia focusing on corporate customers and large-scale financial projects under the umbrella of The Bank of Nova Scotia.
According to the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia, Davivienda has assets worth $14.1 billion. Scotiabank Colpatria is worth $2.8 billion. Spanish bank Banco Sabadell, subject of a takeover bid by BBVA, has also elected to leave Colombia.
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Publish date : 2024-12-05 03:36:00
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Author : theamericannews
Publish date : 2024-12-05 17:31:16
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