Banking in Colombia

The Gilinski Group, headed by Colombians Isaac and Jaime Gilinski, has a track record of winning investments in the financial sector, beginning with its acquisition of Compañía Financiera Internacional in the 1970s. But it was its 1991 acquisition of Banco Andino that helped solidify the Group’s lead.

At the time of the purchase, Banco Andino was hemorrhaging $8 million a month. It took several years to get the bank back on its feet, but within four years it became one of the most efficient banks in the Colombian banking system. The Gilinski Group sold the reconstituted bank for a reported $70 million.

The family then moved to purchase Banco de Colombia, partly with a $50 million investment for privatization from international financier George Soros. They later sold the control of the bank to Banco Industrial Colombiano, and its controlling stakeholder Sindicato Antioqueño, for $418 million — a transaction that ranks among Colombia’s largest. After the sale, Sindicato Antioqueño merged the institutions and called the entity Bancolombia. The Gilinski Group maintained a 19 percent share in the new bank as part of the deal. As of 2009, the market capitalization of Bancolombia in the NYSE is in the order of $6 billion.

After selling its controlling stake in Bancolombia, Jaime Gilinski acquired Eagle National Bank, now known as JGB Bank. Jaime Gilinski is the only Colombian approved by the US Federal Reserve to own a bank in the United States.

Continuing to see promise in Colombia’s banking sector, Isaac and Jaime Gilinski also acquired Banco Sudameris and Banco Tequendema in 2003. Subsequently, they were merged into then $4-billion-asset GNB Sudameris. As of 2009, Banco Sudameris is the most efficient bank in the Colombian banking system. It achieved a profit of $40 million in 2008. The move was followed by the purchase of Servibanca, an ATM network with more than 1,200 machines, and Suma Valores, a stock exchange commission agent company. 

Tags: Banco Andino, Banco de Colombia, Colombian, George Soros, Gilinski Group, Isaac Gilinski, Jaime Gilinski, Jaime Gilinski Bacal

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Gilinski Group. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.