Alarmed by the prospect of a leftist former guerrilla winning the presidency, investors have been pulling money from Colombia this year — but one of the country’s wealthiest men is making a multibillion-dollar bet the other way.
Banker Jaime Gilinski last month launched a $920mn bid for up to 32.5 per cent of Grupo Argos, a cement-to-infrastructure conglomerate that is one of the South American nation’s biggest companies. This comes hot on the heels of $2.8bn of bids and purchases he has made for two other Colombian targets, financial giant Sura and food company Nutresa.
As partners for the Nutresa and Argos offers, Gilinski — who made his fortune with a series of banking acquisitions across Latin America and is a large shareholder in the UK’s Metro Bank — has enlisted Abu Dhabi’s royal family.