Year: 2022

Winner: Hospital de Bosa PPP

Colombia’s capital Bogota plays host to the country’s first public-private partnership outside
traditional sectors such as transportation and energy.
The Bosa hospital project, which wins the award for Social Infrastructure Financing of the
Year, stands out for its novel approach to building social infrastructure in the country. The
concession was awarded just a few months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic which
exploited the weaknesses of health systems in worldwide, with Colombia no exception.
In December 2019, Spain’s Grupo Ortiz won the contract to design, build and operate the 215-
bed hospital in the Bosa district in southwest Bogota. It is an area with the lowest number of
beds per capita in the city.
Bosa was part of an initiative by city hall to build three new hospitals of which one would be
handled under the PPP arrangement.
Grupo Ortiz knew it had a big responsibility to ensure the landmark social investment was a
success. “We felt all eyes would be on the project because it is the first PPP for a social project
in Colombia,” says Javier de la Mata, the company’s director of concessions.
PPP projects in Latin America’s health sector are not new: Grupo Ortiz won a similar contract
in Mexico a few years back and there are other examples in Chile and Peru over the past
decade.
Despite the financial market havoc wrought by the pandemic in 2020, financing the Bosa
hospital was not going to be a problem. Banks were lining up with offers, says De la Mata.
International banks and multilateral lenders wanted to finance the project, and local financial
sector interest was particularly intense. Grupo Ortiz was spoilt for choice. “I don’t think there
was one local bank that did not show interest,” De la Mata says.
The company selected Bancolombia and Itaú for a COP260 billion ($58.7 million) social loan.
Revenue from the hospital will be in local currency so there was no need for a dollar-based
loan structure, and the proposed COP borrowing rates were attractive, he says. In addition, the
so-called mini-perm loan will not need refinancing for nine years.

SPONSOR:
Grupo Ortiz

SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS:
Bancolombia, Credicorp Capital, Cuatrecasas, Garrigues, Itaú


All supporting financial institutions and law firms were transmitted to LatinFinance by the
award category winners. For updates please email awards@latinfinance.com