By Nelson Bocanegra
BOGOTA -Colombian magnate Jaime Gilinski on Monday became the largest shareholder in investment holding company Grupo SURA through a public acquisition offer, according to figures published by the stock exchange.
Gilinski – one of Colombia’s richest men and the owner of bank GNB Sudameris – was seeking between 5% and 6.25% of SURA’s shares at $9.88 per share in the offer. According to Reuters calculations his total spend in the offer would amount to $288.9 million.
The offer was oversubscribed, the stock exchange said in a statement, with interest totaling 7.74% of SURA shares, but Gilinski can buy only up to 6.25%.
With 31.5% of SURA shares, Gilinski will now rank as a larger shareholder than Grupo Argos, which owns 27.7% of SURA.
Both Grupo Gilinski and SURA declined to comment on the result.
The price per share was nearly a quarter more than that offered by Gilinski in a previous offer when he bought 25.3% of SURA, part of a series of offers by him which have shaken up the country’s largest conglomerate, Grupo Empresarial Antioqueno (GEA).
Shareholders in Nutresa – which, like SURA and Argos, is part of GEA – responded to a separate acquisition offer from Gilinski by selling 3.11% of shares, the exchange said, much below the up to 22.88% sought by the businessman.
Gilinski had previously purchased 27.7% of Nutresa shares.
SURA said earlier on Monday it will restart the search for a possible strategic partner after the end of the acquisition offer.
“Once the first offer was presented the search for a strategic partner clearly had to be suspended and so we’re waiting for the passivity rule to expire, so the board of directors … can continue to consider the possibilities,” SURA head Gonzalo Perez told investors on a conference call.
SURA – which has a presence in 11 Latin American countries – has projected growth of between 10% and 15% in its net profit for this year, after it more than quadrupled profit last year to $388.6 million.
($1 = 3,910.64 Colombian pesos)
(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in BogotaWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Alistair Bell and Matthew Lewis)
