Inversiones La Construccion (ILC) and Prudential Financial Inc., which together hold 80% of the ownership of AFP Habitat, announced on Friday an agreement to acquire, through AFP Habitat S.A., 100% of the ownership of Colfondos S.A. Pensiones y Cesantías, a Colombian pension fund manager currently owned by Scotiabank and Grupo Mercantil Colpatria.
Colfondos is the third largest pension fund manager in Colombia, with 1,916,000 clients and 27 years of history. The transaction involves the purchase, by Habitat, of 100% of the ownership of AFP Colfondos. As per an official communication of AFP Habital to the national regulator CMF, the price of the transaction in 585.000 million pesos ( 170 million dolars) that will be paid in cash.
Upon completion of this operation (subject to usual closing conditions, including regulatory approvals), AFP Habitat will consolidate its presence in three countries (Chile, Peru and Colombia), reaching a market of around 100 million inhabitants and over 850,000 million dollars of total GDP.
“This transaction consolidates the corporate relationship we have with Prudential and ratifies our vision regarding the potential of the Latin American market. Likewise, and if authorized by Colombian regulatory authorities, AFP Habitat will take a significant step in its expansion strategy, contributing in a new country its differentiating attributes such as its track record in investment returns, professionalism and leadership in the industry”, said Pablo González, CEO of ILC.
Additionally, Cristián Rodríguez, Chairman of AFP Habitat Chile said that “we are very happy with the decision to acquire AFP Colfondos, as it will allow us to consolidate a portfolio of about 5 million affiliates in the Andean Region (Chile, Peru and Colombia), capture the regional growth potential and work towards the goal of achieving better pensions for the people”.
The Manager of Prudential for Latin America, Federico Spagnoli, said that “our partnership with ILC is delivering the expected results, and this transaction is a concrete demonstration that the internationalization of AFP Habitat is being achieved in the right terms and conditions, responding to the spirit that drove our alliance in 2014”.
As reported previously, in October 2014 ILC -an investment company of which the Chilean Chamber of Construction is a majority shareholder- partnered with Prudential Financial Inc., a North American company, to control 80% of the ownership of AFP Habitat, which was an important step to strengthen the internationalization strategy of this company. Since then, AFP Habitat has consolidated its presence in the Peruvian market by becoming one of the main pension funds managers in the country.
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