Colombian Pension Funds Buy Ecogas

Colombia’s pension funds (AFPs), together with some other minority investors, have bought control of the country’s largest gas distribution company, state-owned Empresa Colombiana de Gas (Ecogas), for just over $300 million. The six pension funds have acquired control of 97.15% of Ecogas, and marks 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.