Bantec to sell factoring unit

Costa Rican financial group Consorcio Bantec plans to sell its factoring unit in order to address a liquidity shortfall of US$5.6mn, local daily el Financiero reported. The sale of Bantec's factoring is the first part of a broader plan to clean up the company, which has been in receivership since August 8. Consorcio Bantec has assets of 21.2bn colones, making it the 12th largest financial institution in the country. The group reported a loss of 71mn colones at the end of June. After the sale of the factoring unit the next step would be to exit receivership and then capitalize the group or bring a strategic partner on board, the paper said. "The intervention has been greatly publicized, but I think the whole world knows the bank is financially sound," group chairman Lionel Peralta was quoted as saying. According to Peralta, the current shareholders of Consorcio Bantec are interested in injecting fresh capital into the company.