Chile’s Celfin Plots Regional Expansion

Chilean asset manager and investment boutique Celfin Capital plans to start operations in Peru this year and move into Colombia in 2009, the firm’s vice chairman Jorge Errazuriz tells LatinFinance. “We have to follow our clients. Many of our clients are investing in Peru and we are also working with the pension funds in Peru and have to provide them with products,” says Errazuriz. “We will officially open in June and are very close to obtaining our license for a stock exchange company, he says of Lima.” Besides the brokerage, Celfin wants to develop asset management, private banking, local research, M&A and capital markets in the Andean nation. “Peru is the China of Latin America, it’s growing at more than 10% a year,” says Errazuriz. “Peru will be a very growth market and we have to be there,” he adds. Errazuriz also predicts flow from Peru and Colombia to Chile, including M&A across all sectors. A Bogota office will follow Peru, which is this year’s focus for Celfin. Errazuriz is particularly interested in the opportunity in asset management, trading, brokerage and private banking. Celfin manages $5bn for institutions and private clients, and has channeled an extra $10bn in investment to the region. Speaking on the sidelines of this week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Cancun, Errazuriz is unfazed by the global economic crisis. “We’re growing,” says the banker. “The Chilean market this time is very strong.”