GRUPOSURA Placed the Largest Issue of Shares Ever to Be Carried Out by a Private Company in Colombia

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• Latin America - español

MEDELLIN, Colombia, Nov. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With the placement deadline having expired at 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 22, GRUPOSURA is pleased to announce that based on the preliminary figures obtained thus far, the total amount of preferred shares placed comes to USD 1.82 billion. This has been the largest placement ever carried out by a private company in the history of Colombia, and we would like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank our investors for placing their trust in us and for their support with our upcoming expansion.

This issue has now brought about the necessary funds with which to complete the financing plan drawn up by GRUPOSURA in order to bring to a successful conclusion the acquisition of ING Group's Latin American assets.

"In spite of the particularly adverse conditions on the markets both at home and abroad, we have been able to achieve our objective of financing the ING acquisition with funds from an issue of shares and other sources, such as the co-investors recently announced. This has allowed us the peace of mind with which to bring this acquisition to a successful conclusion so as to begin to focus on managing and extending our operations throughout Latin America. The Colombian people can rest assured that they are investing in top-performing companies with a high potential for providing optimum shareholder value and a good rate of return," stated David Bojanini Garcia, CEO of Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana.

We shall be providing the final data regarding this share placement in the coming days.

"I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all those involved in this process, particularly the brokerage firms and the bank networks who played such an active part in this placement. I would also like to acknowledge the excellent work carried out by our employees and our outside consultants, particularly Banca de Inversion Bancolombia and Valores Bancolombia," concluded Mr. Bojanini.

Finally, GRUPOSURA continues to make good progress with the transition process and the required official authorizations so as to be able to close the acquisition deal with ING Group, before the end of this year.

ABOUT GRUPO DE INVERSIONES SURAMERICANA

Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana is a multi-Latin company listed on the Colombian stock exchange and registered with the ADR- Level 1 program in the United States. It is also listed with the Latibex Market for Latin American Stocks in Euros hosted by the Madrid Stock Exchange. It is also the first Colombian financial institution to be admitted to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), which monitors a worldwide group of high-performing companies who have become global benchmarks in terms of sustainability.. The Company has two fields of investment: the first being its strategic investments in the financial service, insurance, social security as well as complementary service sectors; and the second corresponds to its portfolio investments in the food, cement and energy sectors.

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SOURCE Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana