Macro Bansud Wins Nuevo Banco Bisel

Argentine bank Macro Bansud has won the bidding for state-owned Nuevo Banco Bisel, the Rosario-based bank that specializes in the agriculture sector. Macro bid $268 million for Bisel at the beginning of April, against a bid of $196 million from the only other interested party, local bank Hipotecaria. Banco Bisel, formerly a subsidiary of France’s Credit Agricole, was taken over by the government in the wake of the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina and Credit Agricole’s pull-out from the country.