Category: Funds

Peru’s local pension fund administrators (AFPs) continue to benefit from the liberalization of the rules governing their investment universe. The country’s banking regulator (SBS) has said it is planning to let them invest directly in alternative investments, such as covered funds, later this year. Since March they have been able to invest in these instruments indirectly. This year, for the first time, the country’s five AFPs have also been allowed to invest in sub-investment grade securities (below BBB-).

Mexico’s pension fund regulator, Consar, has approved three new licenses for private pension funds (Afores) to operate in the local market, taking the total number of such funds to 19. The first new fund to be launched will be Afore Ahorra Ahora, run by Monex Grupo Financiero. The two other licenses are for funds being set up by state-owned Bansefi and by retailer Coppel. The private pension fund market, which was launched in Mexico in 1997, is beginning to take off following a series of changes last year allowing more self-employed workers to pay into the funds and for greater transfer possibilities within the private system.

Primero Justicia has become the fourth political party in Venezuela to boycott Sunday’s parliamentary elections. The parties, which also include Acción Democrática, COPEI and Proyecto Venezuela, are protesting against what they say are unfair electoral conditions. The ruling Movimiento V República party of President Hugo Chávez is seeking to increase its seats in Congress on 4 December.

Boston-based global private equity fund Advent International has closed its third Latin American Fund III (LAPEF III) with a total of $375 million. The fund will focus on buyouts of growth companies in the region, in particular in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The majority (53%) of the capital was raised from North American investors, with 36% coming from Europe and 11% from the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

The Colombian Securities Exchange (BVC) is investigating whether there was any insider trading involved in the transactions last week regarding the sale of Bancolombia shares in the Exchange. Last Tuesday, Venezuela’s Mercantil Servicios Financieros unexpectedly sold its 4.4% in the Colombian bank pushing share trading volume on the BVC to historic highs.

is confirmed as a panelist on the Afores workshop at LatinFinance’s Inaugural Cumbre Financiera Mexicana, July 13-14, in Mexico City. Debate and discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by Mexico’s dynamic financial markets at this invitation-only event. View the full agenda and apply for an invitation at www.latinfinance.com/mexicana

A Brazilian judge lifted an injunction that had suspended the sale of a controlling stake in Nossa Caixa Seguros e Previdencia, the insurance and pensions unit of Brazil’s tenth-biggest bank, to Corporacion Mapfre. This decision paves the way for Mapfre, Spain’s biggest insurer, to take over the unit as soon as it gets permission from Brazil’s insurance regulator. Mapfre agreed on May 24 to pay $95 million for a 51 percent stake in the business.

Mario Gabriel Budebo, President of CONSAR, Mexico’s Afores Regulator, will join the “Mexican Pension Funds: The Changing Face of the Afores” workshop at LatinFinance’s Inaugural “Cumbre Financiera Mexicana”, which will take place on July 13-14 in Mexico City. Delegates will debate and discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by Mexico’s dynamic financial markets at this invitation-only event. View the full agenda and apply for an invitation at www.latinfinance.com/mexicana