GrupoSura Adds Grupo Bolivar to ING Deal

The Colombian Grupo de Inversiones Sudamericanas (GrupoSura) has taken on Sociedades Bolivar as a second minority shareholder in the pension and insurance business it recently acquired from ING for $3.76bn. Sociedades Bolivar, part of the Grupo Bolivar holding company which includes interests in the finance, insurance and construction businesses, has agreed to pay $400m for a 10% stake in the business. Last week, GrupoSura added the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a partner with a 5% stake in exchange for $200m. GrupoSura officials have said they expect to take on as many as three minority partners that will control no more than 25% of the business. In July the company agreed to acquire ING’s assets in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Peru for EUR2.68bn, consisting of EUR65m in assumed debt and EUR2.615bn in cash. At the time, the deal valued the ING assets at a 1.8x book value, or 18x estimated 2011 earnings on a GAAP basis. As such, the deal came at the high end of analyst estimates for the value of the assets.