Breaking News: Bolsa De Valores Colombia Acquires Sophos Banking Solutions

This afternoon, the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC) announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire 51% of Sophos Banking Solutions in an all cash deal. Sophos is a leading South American technology firm with a focus on the finance and securities sector.

The motivation behind the deal is to support the continued growth of Colombia’s Securities sector and capital markets. Advised on the transaction by Helm Banca de Inversion, one of the Andes region’s leading investment banks, the BVC intends to integrate the operations of Sophos into its existing lineup of service offerings, thus diversifying the entity’s revenue streams, while remaining focused on its finance sector charter.

Sophos has an operational presence in Mexico and Chile, in addition to Colombia, and from those locations services customers throughout Latin America. The 8 year old company had 2014 sales of approximately $27 billion Colombian Pesos, and has partnerships with global IT firms such as Infosys, Misys, Oracle and Wipro.

“Sophos is an ideal fit for the long term vision of the BVC, as we seek to foment the growth in enabling services for the financial sector and the capital markets at a local and regional level,” said Juan Pablo Córdoba, BVC’s President. “With Sophos, BVC grows as a pioneer in Latin American stock exchanges, by incorporating Sophos in our long term strategy of a specialized technology services portfolio.”

“Sophos has a highly qualified team, with about 300 employees, who contribute to its leadership position in the technology services sector, along with a management team with over 15 years of experience,” added Amitt Agarwall, the President of Sophos.

The deal is still subject to approval by Superfinanciera, Colombia’s securities regulator. The exact deal value is still confidential, and Lewin & Wills served as legal advisor to the BVC.

The merged organization’s financial results for 2014 work out to $111 billion COP in revenues, with net assets of $149 billion.