Cuscatlán eyes acquisition opportunities

Central American banking group Cuscatlán is studying acquisition opportunities in Panama, the group's chairman Mauricio Samayoa told news service Panamá América. Among the options under study is Global Bank as well as smaller banks, Samayoa said. The acquisition of Global Bank would significantly increase Cuscatlán's presence in Panama, where at the end of last year it reported US$639mn in assets and deposits of US$482mn. Global Bank had assets worth US$801mn and deposits of US$568mn at year-end 2004. Cuscatlán's regional expansion plans got a boost last week when Puerto Rico's largest financial group Popular (Nasdaq: BPOP) said it would acquire a 20% stake in the group's holding company through a US$125mn capital increase. Samayoa said in an interview with BNamericas that the capital increase would allow the group to fund acquisitions in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and Honduras where it has a relatively small market share. Last year talks between Cuscatlán and Guatemala's fourth largest bank Banco del Café broke off because of differences over price. In Cuscatlán's home market of El Salvador it controls the country's second largest bank.