COLOMBIA BUSINESS NEWS (Bloomberg) — Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA, the banking group controlled by billionaire Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, is seeking to raise $1.1 billion to boost capital at subsidiaries after expanding into Central America.
Aval expects to offer 73,529,412 American Depositary Receipts in its initial public offering in New York, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. Each ADR, representing 20 preferred shares, would be valued at $14.96 based on the stock’s closing price Sept. 5.
Grupo Aval, which acquired Central America lender BAC Credomatic Inc. in 2010 for $1.9 billion, has maintained its focus on the region, agreeing to buy Guatemalan lender Grupo Financiero Reformador and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA’s Panama unit more recently.
“The capital will allow Aval to take advantage of economic growth not only in Colombia but in Central America,” Jose Restrepo, an equity strategist at brokerage Serfinco, said in a phone interview from Medellin. “In Central America, you have growth in corporate lending, and in Colombia, the main opportunities are in housing and consumer loans.”
Grupo Aval is Colombia’s largest banking group by assets, including subsidiaries Banco de Bogota SA, the country’s second- largest bank, and Banco de Occidente SA, Banco Popular SA and Banco Comercial AV Villas SA, according to the filing. Sarmiento Angulo owned 95.9 percent of Aval’s common shares and 60.8 percent of its preferred shares as of Sept. 4.
Aval’s preferred shares have rallied 12 percent to 1,430 pesos this year. The stock fell 1 percent today from a record high 1,445 pesos on Sept. 5.
Colombia is set to grow 5 percent this year following a 4.7 percent expansion in 2013, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Panama will expand 6.5 percent in 2014 after increasing 8.3 percent in the previous year, according to the survey.
