AFPs Consider Ecopetrol

The Colombian pension funds that last month bought control of the country’s largest gas distribution company, state-owned Empresa Colombiana de Gas (Ecogas), have said they may step in the buy the 20% stake of state-run Ecopetrol the government is looking to sell. The six pension funds (AFPs) paid $300 million for Ecogas, marking the first foray by the funds into the gas sector. Under Colombian privatization law, state companies to be sold must first be offered to the “solidarity” sector comprising pension funds, cooperatives and unions.