Category: M&A

UBS has named its new management heads for Latin America, following the acquisition of Brazilian Banco Pactual at the beginning of May. Andres Esteves, currently managing partner of Pactual has been named CEO and chairman of UBS Latin America, reporting to Huw Jenkins, CEO of UBS Investment Bank. Jürg Haller, currently global head, products and services for UBS Global WM&BB, will become chief operating officer, deputy CEO and deputy chairman of UBS Latin America operations, reporting to Esteves. He will oversee the integration of Pactual and the existing UBS business in Brazil. The management appointments will become effective once the acquisition of Banco Pactual closes, which is expected for September.

Peru’s banking regulator (SBS) has approved the merger of Banco Wiese and Banco Sudamericano. In March, Canadian bank Scotiabank bought control of Banco Sudamericano for $62.4 million and merged it with Banco Wiese, which it had purchased the year before for $265 million. Scotiabank will hold 80% of the new entity.

Peru’s competition and intellectual property regulator, Indecopi, has approved the merger of local electricity generators Edegel and Etevensa. The two energy generators, both controlled by Spanish utility company Endesa, agreed a merger in January to form a new entity with assets worth $1.4 billion. Edegel is the country’s largest private electricity producer; Etevensa is the first combined cycle plant in the country, using natural gas from the Camisea project.

Mexican financial group Banorte is to buy US remittances company UniTeller Holdings for $20 million. The acquisition is part of Banorte’s strategy to target clients in the US, who sent back $20 billion in remittances to Mexico last year. In January, Banorte announced it was to buy 70% of Texas-based Inter National Bank for $259 million.

Mexican cement producer Grupo Cementos Chihuahua (GCC) has bought US firm Mid-Continent Concrete for $271 million. The acquisition of the Oklahoma-based company will be financed by debt. In September last year GCC bought a 46.57% stake in Bolivian company Sociedad Boliviana de Cementos (SOBOCE) in a deal worth $58.2 million.

Deutsche Bank has appointed Stephen Cunningham as a managing director and head of corporate finance and M&A for Latin America. Cunnigham, who will be based in New York, has joined from Morgan Stanley where he was head of investment banking for Latin America. During his 10 years there he was involved in several notable deals, such as the privatization of Telebras, restructuring of Telecom Argentina, as well as working on bond offerings for both sovereign and corporate issuers.

Canada’s Scotiabank has agreed to buy the retail operations of Citibank in Dominican Republic for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will increase Scotiabank’s share of the local consumer credit market. Canada’s third-largest bank has been active in the Latin American market recently as it pursues its strategy of expansion. In March it bought control of Peruvian bank Sudamericano for $62.4 million. It plans to merge Sudamericano with Peru’s third-largest bank, Banco Wiese Sudameris, which it acquired for $265 million last year.

Troubled Brazilian airline carrier Varig is set to decide whether to accept an improved acquisition offer of $400 million by its former cargo subsidiary VarigLog. The company, now owned by Volo Brasil, made an offer earlier this month for $350 million which was rejected by Varig’s creditors and workers’ unions. Varig, which has debts of around $3.3 billion, has been under bankruptcy protection since last June and has now run out of operating cash. It faces closure should the government fail to intervene with a rescue plan.

Colombia’s largest TV channel, Caracol Televisión, has bought a 25% stake in WGen-TV of Southern Florida for $12 million. The acquisition gives Caracol control of three Spanish-speaking TV channels in the region, broadcasting mainly in the Miami area.

Mergers and acquisitions in Argentina totaled $1.2 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to a KPMG study. The biggest deal was Apache’s purchase of Pioneer Argentina for S$675 million followed by HSBC’s US$155 million acquisition of local bank BNL.