Bancolombia said on Tuesday that it had agreed to pay $2.1 billion to acquire HSBC Panama, as the bank continues to expand in Central America.
Bancolombia, based in Medellin, Colombia, said in a filing that it would acquire all the common stock and 90.1 percent of its preferred shares.
It estimated HSBC Panama’s net asset value to be $700 million. Bancolombia’s regulatory filing said that through Sept. 30, 2012, HSBC Panama had $7.6 billion in assets, $5.7 billion in loans and $5.8 billion in deposits.
The deal is the latest signal of Bancolombia’s global ambitions. In December, Bancolombia said that it had agreed to obtain 40 percent of Guatemala’s Grupo Agromercantil. It also owns El Salvador’s Banco Agricola.
“The financial sector in Central America has evolved in an important way in the last few years, in particular in Panama,†Bancolombia’s president, Carlos Raul Yepes, said in a statement.
London-based HSBC has been divesting itself of many of its LatinAmerican assets, and Colombian banks have been largely the buyers. Last year, Davivienda acquired HSBC’s assets in Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador. Also in 2012, GNB Sudameris, part of the Gilinksi Group, purchased HSBC Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The transaction requires regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
UBS and Banca de Inversion Bancolombia were financial advisers on the deal.
