Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana, the First Colombian Company to be Listed on the Latibex Market

USA - English

• Latin America - español

MEDELLIN, Colombia, Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana is the first Colombian company to be listed on the Latibex market. The official ceremony marking this event shall take place next Monday, February 28. Now European investors shall have greater opportunity to invest in one of Colombia's long-standing, most robust stocks.

Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana is the fourth largest Colombian company in terms of market capitalization with euro 6.351 million at January 31, 2011. Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana is a holding company listed on the Colombian stock exchange and is registered with the ADR- Level 1 program in the United States. Its portfolio of investments is divided into two main segments: the first is its Strategic Investments in the financial service, insurance, social security as well as complementary service sectors. The second is its Portfolio Investments, mainly in the food and cement sectors

David Bojanini García, CEO of Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana, announced that besides gaining greater international recognition and extending the possibilities of obtaining financing in currencies other than the dollar, the Company shall now be listed with the world's ninth largest market in terms of market capitalization and the fourth largest stock market in the Euro Zone. This shall allow the Company to "gain new types of investors such as small and medium investment funds, retail investors and buyers of structured products. Latibex is the second largest Latin American market in terms of market capitalization catering to the substantial potential that Europe offers with regard to equity investments. This shall provide our Company with greater liquidity and a higher stock market value turnover".

Latibex is the ideal means to effectively channel European investment towards Latin America.

Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana has been registered with the ADR Level 1 program in the US since 2008, which has produced an important increase in the amount of international funds investing in our Company. These today number 147, all of which are well recognized on an international level.

Colombia shall be the sixth Latin American country to enter the Latibex market, joining a total of 32 issuers from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

The Company's listing with the Latibex market shall be officially acknowledged at a ceremony which shall take place on Monday February 28, at the Madrid Stock Exchange at 11:30 a.m. local time. This is clearly an important milestone in Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana's international expansion strategy.

To see the transmission of the event during which GRUPOSURA will join LATIBEX, please click on the link: 

http://streamstudio.world-television.com/CCUIv3/webcast.aspx?ticket=758-946-9462&target=es

2010 RESULTS

Yesterday, GRUPOSURA announced its financial results for 2010, which showed a net profit of COP 696.266 million, with a growth of 56.1% compared to 2009, showing a strong performance of its insurance subsidiaries, as well as an excellent flow of dividends and interest received from the non controlling investments.

In the balance sheet, the assets of the Company continued to excel, reaching COP 18.2 billion, with an increase of 23.6% over the previous year. Also, the Company showed a total liability of COP 607,419 million, for a debt ratio of 3.3%. The shareholders' equity ended the year at COP 17.56 billion, with an increase of 22.5% over the previous year and an intrinsic value of COP 37.441 per share, which is the highest value recorded in the history of our Company.

Finally, the Board of Directors approved to present at the next Shareholders' Meeting, on March 29, the proposed dividend increase of 8.21%, which would be COP 290 per share, with an spread over the inflation rate of 5.04%.

SOURCE Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana