Category: M&A

US technology company Sykes has bought Argentine call center operator Apex for $27.4 million. The acquisition will be funded 80% by cash and 20% by stock. Apex is headquartered in the city of Córdoba and has two other call centers in Argentina, serving clients in Argentina, Mexico and the US. Sykes plans to manage its Spanish business from its new base in Argentina.

Mexico’s competition commission rejected the merger of two railroads owned by Grupo Mexico, the country’s largest copper producer. Kansas City Southern Industries, which owns the third of the country’s main railroad networks, had complained the merger would hurt competition. Grupo Mexico bought Ferrosur, which operates mainly in the south, from magnate Carlos Slim, to merge it with operations in northern Mexico. The company said it will examine its options now.

Tenaris, the world’s largest steel tube producer, controlled by Argentina’s Techint, is to buy North American rival Maverick Tube for $2.4 billion. The acquisition will allow Tenaris to expand into the North American market. The move by Techint’s Luxembourg-based unit pushed up the company’s share price and saw an improvement in Argentina’s Merval Tuesday – Technit has a 27.7% weighting in the index.

Electricity provider Enel of Italy has spent $195 million to buy 11 small hydroelectric centers (PCH) in Brazil. Together, they have a combined capacity of 98MW. The acquisition still needs approval from Brazil’s electricity regulator, Aneel.

Colombian banks Banco de Occidente and Banco Unión will carry out a share swap on June 23 to finalize the merger of the two entities. Last month the Colombian financial sector regulator approved Banco de Occidente’s acquisition of the remaining 44% of Banco Unión it did not already own via a public offering. Banco de Occidente, part of Grupo Aval, is Colombia’s fifth-largest financial institution.

Colombian industry and trade regulator (SIC) has approved the acquisition of Cementos Andino and Concrecem by Cementos Argos, part of local conglomerate GEA, which bought the assets of its rival last November for $192 million. The acquisition gives Argos control of 60% of the domestic production capacity of cement and concrete – around 9 million tonnes of cement and 1.5 million cubic meters of concrete a year.

Advent International, the global private equity firm, announced that it has led the leveraged acquisition of Milano, Mexico’s largest discount clothing retailer, for $200 million. The landmark buyout is Mexico’s first private-equity-backed transaction in the middle market to use significant leverage based mainly on cash flow.

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.