GNB Sudameris Snags Latest HSBC Divestment

Colombia’s Banco GNB Sudameris has agreed to buy HSBC’s operations in Colombia, Uruguay, Peru and Paraguay, for $400m, HSBC says. HSBC had previously announced it was in talks to sell the assets. Though the Colombian portion is small – 15th in assets with just over $1.5bn, representing 1.7% market share – it represents the latest asset to change hands in a rapidly shifting landscape where foreign players have paid high multiples to enter. The businesses to be sold consist of 62 branches across the 4 countries and a gross asset value of $4.4bn. “This will not change the market much. It is basically a strategic move to become more relevant in a few different countries,” says a Bogota-based FIG equity analyst. GNB is paying cash, and the Colombia and Peru portion is expected to close in the fourth quarter and the Uruguay and Paraguay portion in the first quarter of next year. The sale is part of a continued process to shed non-core assets in the region. In January, HSBC sold operations in 3 Central American countries to Colombia’s Davivienda for $801m, before selling its insurance business in Mexico and Argentina to France’s AXA and Australia’s QBE Insurance Group in March as part of a $1.23bn package also including Asian assets.