Gilinski Takes Control of Grupo Nutresa in Conclusion of Years-Long Battle with GEA

In what appears to be an end to a years-long battle for control, Grupo Empresarial Antioqueno (GEA) and Colombian mogul Jaime Gilinski have negotiated a deal for Gilinski to take control of Grupo Nutresa in exchange for him abandoning any attempt to take control of Grupo Sura and Grupo Argos from GEA.

The deal between the two parties, which was reportedly hashed out in a luxury hotel in Spain during the San Isidro Festivities and finalized by May 24, will give Gilinski 87% of Grupo Nutresa, while seeing Grupo Sura and Grupo Argos relinquish any stock or control of the company to him and his partners.

In exchange, three companies owned by or working with Gilinski — JGDB Holding SAS, Nugil SAS, and IHC Capital Holding LLC — will sell any Grupo Sura shares they may have. The Financial Superintendency of Colombia authorized the suspension of the trading of these three companies’ stocks from May 25 to June 15 for the benefit of the investors in the three companies.

While the details of how the deal went down are still unclear as of press time, an unnamed source reportedly told local newspaper El Tiempo that former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was involved in the discussions and even opened up his home in Rionegro to facilitate the discussions.

READ MORE: Former Bancolombia President in Speech to Gilinski: Stop this War!

The agreement, at least for now, provides a bookend to the years-long crusade that Gilinski has waged with GEA to take control of various companies, including lawsuits against each other and recent fights over Grupo Nutresa’s board of directors.

The fight has been seen as damaging to the reputation of both parties despite the market capitalization of the three companies rising, with Grupo Sura’s value jumping by some 95.4% since November 2021 and Group Nutresa spiking 165.9% during the same period.

Steffanía Mosquera, a market analyst from Credicorp Capital, has said that the deal will likely be good for all the parties involved. “[At] first glance, we believe that this transaction (or series of them) should be positive for the Colombian market in a context of low volumes,” she told El Tiempo. “We also see that the transactions could help simplify the structure of Grupo Argos and Grupo Sura, which could be seen as positive by investors.”