Banco Industrial to Buy Honduras’ Banco del Pais

Guatemala’s Banco Industrial is in talks to acquire Honduras’ Banco del Pais for close to $150m, senior executives close to the discussions tell LatinFinance. The deal is expected to be finalized and officially announced in the coming weeks. The Guatemalan bank, which plans to IPO in Mexico as early as February, is heard to be raising a $165m 3-year loan at Libor plus 250bp to pay for the deal, according to a banker away from the deal. Standard Bank is heard to have the books for the syndication, which is already out to MLAs. Banco Industrial told LatinFinance earlier this Fall that it would look to grow beyond its own borders after having consumed two local banks, Occidente and Quetzal in the past year and a half, and that it was looking at Honduras and El Salvador. Industrial itself was also recently heard to be the object of some M&A due diligence by regional giant HSBC.