Bladex closes $105m loan in private bank buyout

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex) has issued a $105 million five year senior secured amortising loan to Panama-based Promerica Financial Corporation (PFC) to facilitate its acquisition of a controlling stake in Ecuadorian bank Banco de la Produccion (Produbanco), the bank confirmed in a statement.

PFC is the holding company of Grupo Promerica, a group of nine banks with operations in Central America, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Cayman Islands, and combined assets reaching $10 billion.

The buyout leads to Produbanco becoming the second largest private bank in Ecuador in terms of assets, gross loans and deposits.

Bladex acted as a joint lead arranger and bookrunner on the syndication. The transaction was 1.8x oversubscribed, attracting the interest of several financial institutions based in Panama and Brazil.

Alejandro Jaramillo, head of loan structuring and distribution at Bladex, said in the statement: “The success of this transaction continues to demonstrate Bladex's strong origination, structuring and distribution capabilities in the Latin American syndicated loan market, as well as the Bank's commitment to support its clients in securing financing to foster the growth of their business activities. We are very pleased to support a group like Promerica in expanding its footprint throughout Latin America.”

The syndication process comprised a two-stage strategy, with a joint lead arranger and bookrunner syndication closed in mid-December and a concurrent general syndication closed in early January.

Francisco Martinez, managing director of Grupo Promerica, stated: “We are extremely pleased with the support and commitment that Bladex and its great team of executives have provided Grupo Promerica and are very impressed with their execution capabilities particularly in this important transaction. Bladex is a first-class institution.”

Bladex is a supranational bank established by the central banks of Latin-American and Caribbean countries, to promote foreign trade finance and economic integration in the region. It also acted as administrative agent and the collateral agent under the facility.