MEDELLIN, Colombia,
June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- At an
Extraordinary Meeting held this week, the shareholders of Grupo de
Inversiones Suramericana gave their authorization to an increase in
the Company's share capital and a new type of stock to be created,
namely preferred shares.
The shareholders thus approved an increase in the Company's
authorized share capital from 500 to 600 million shares, which
shall allow another 130.962.740 shares to be issued in addition to
the 469.037.260 currently outstanding. These shall take the form of
preferred non-voting stock, based on the shareholders approval
granted today. Out of the total amount of shares thus authorized,
only those that are strictly required for the Company's expansion
plans shall be issued.
Mr. David Bojanini Garcia, CEO of GRUPOSURA, stated: "we
received the entire backing of our shareholders, who approved new
vehicles with which to carry out the Company's expansion plan. Our
aim with our international expansion program is to acquire a
position of regional leadership within all those sectors in which
we have invested."
The Company made it quite clear at this Extraordinary
Shareholders´ Meeting that the approval granted to set up preferred
stock does not imply that such shares are going to be issued
immediately. Having obtained due authorization from its
shareholders, the Company shall be able to access the required
mechanisms and have enough financial flexibility in order to go
ahead as planned with its expansion strategy and take full
advantage of any opportunity that should present itself, even
though it was clearly explained to the shareholders that there was
no particular business on the agenda at the present time.
The shareholders also gave their approval to converting up to
10% of the Company's ordinary shares outstanding into preferred
shares, that is to say a maximum of 46,903,726 shares at a rate of
one preferred share for every ordinary share, this in order to
provide the greatest amount of liquidity for this new type of
share. The conditions for this share conversion shall only take
effect as of the moment in which the first issue of preferred
shares are issued, and it shall be the Board of Directors who shall
define the rules and regulations governing such, as part of the
responsibilities delegated by the shareholders today.
It was also announced that GRUPOSURA's preferred shares shall
offer an annual preferred dividend of 3% of the value of each share
at the moment of issue, this payable during the three years
subsequent to the subscription date and on the same dates as the
dividends on its ordinary shares are paid out. At the end of this
three-year period, the holders of these preferred shares shall
receive the same dividend as shall be declared for its ordinary
shares.
It is important to note that Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana
is a public stock corporation with almost 8,300 shareholders
including 182 international funds. When the Board of Directors
decides to issue these shares, these shall be offered to all manner
of investors, from private individuals to institutional investors,
pension funds, international funds and even the Company's current
shareholders. These may be traded on the Colombian stock exchange
or on the Integrated Latin American Stock Market (MILA in Spanish)
among other alternatives that may be made available on an
international level.
With the Extraordinary Shareholders´ Meeting held this week,
GRUPOSURA completes an excellent first half of this year, having
obtained important achievements such as being the first Colombian
company to trade on the European stock exchange, namely Latibex. It
also obtained an International Investment Grade from both Fitch
Ratings and Standard & Poor's and placed USD 300 million in bonds on the international
markets with a bid-to-cover ratio of 17, the highest in
Colombia's financial history.
GRUPOSURA considers that obtaining financing through new issues
of shares is a means of taking full advantage of the momentum
enjoyed by both the Company and the country at large, thereby
awakening much interest on the part of international investors.
Based on the figures recorded over the last ten years, we can
safely say that Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana has had the honor
of contributing to the positive dynamics of the Colombian economy,
having become one of more robust issuers listed on the Colombian
stock exchange.
GRUPO DE INVERSIONES SURAMERICANA
Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana is a company listed on the
Colombian stock exchange as well as with the ADR- Level 1 program
in the United States and the
Latibex Market for Latin American Stocks in Euros hosted by the
Madrid Stock Exchange. Its portfolio of investments is divided into
two main segments: the first is Strategic Investments, comprised of
the financial services, insurance and social security sectors as
well as complementary services. The second is its Portfolio
Investments, mainly in the food and cement sectors
GRUPOSURA is mainly focused on its Strategic Investment
segment, playing an active role in the management functions of all
its companies with a view to harnessing common synergies, as well
as taking full advantage of creating, growing and extending its
business.
CONTACT: Communications Office, +011-574-4355935,
comunicaciones@gruposura.com.co; or Luis
Eduardo Martinez, Investor Relations, +011-574-4355628,
lemartinez@gruposura.com.co
SOURCE Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana S.A.