Grupo Energía Bogotá (BVC: GEB) and La Caisse, the investment arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, have signed a final agreement to merge their respective Brazilian power transmission assets into a single 50/50 jointly controlled platform operating under the name Verene Energia S.A. The transaction was announced May 15, 2026, from Montréal and Bogotá.

The combined entity will consolidate 26 electric transmission concession agreements, more than 9,000 km of transmission lines, and a workforce of over 400 employees across 17 Brazilian states. At that scale, Verene will rank among the five largest power transmission operators in Brazil, a market that has drawn sustained interest from international infrastructure investors as the country advances grid modernization programs.

Verene, which had previously operated as La Caisse’s dedicated transmission platform in Brazil, will continue as the reference vehicle for the combined portfolio. The partners have indicated that the platform will be positioned to pursue acquisitions and network expansions in Brazil’s transmission concession market, with grid modernization and decarbonization cited as the broader policy context driving new investment opportunities.

“By bringing together highly complementary assets under one banner, the partnership establishes Verene as a scaled, business-driven platform with strong financial backing.” — Emmanuel Jaclot, Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure and Sustainability, La Caisse

Grupo Energía Bogotá, headquartered in Bogotá and listed on the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC: GEB), has operated in Latin America’s energy sector for more than 130 years. The company holds assets in electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and gas transportation and distribution across Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Guatemala. Its entry into the joint venture contributes its existing Brazilian transmission concessions to the merged platform alongside La Caisse’s Verene assets.

La Caisse manages net assets of 517 billion CAD as of December 31, 2025, on behalf of 48 depositors representing more than six million Quebecers. The fund is active across major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and private credit, and has built a significant infrastructure portfolio in Latin America through investments including the Verene platform.

Juan Ricardo Ortega, president of Grupo Energía Bogotá, described the rationale for the transaction in terms of combining complementary strengths. “By combining our operational expertise and regional market knowledge with the financial strength and global perspective of our partner, we are creating a platform positioned to accelerate growth, expand transmission energy infrastructure, and support Brazil’s energy transition,” he said. “We believe this alliance will generate sustainable value for our stakeholders and contribute to Brazil’s economic and energy development.”

Emmanuel Jaclot, executive vice-president and head of infrastructure and sustainability at La Caisse, framed the deal as a consolidation play. “By bringing together highly complementary assets under one banner, the partnership establishes Verene as a scaled, business-driven platform with strong financial backing,” Jaclot said. “GEB brings more than 130 years of operating heritage and ranks among Latin America’s leading energy infrastructure groups, with deep expertise across the region’s transmission sector. Together, we share a vision to strengthen Verene’s footprint in Brazil through value-creating acquisitions and continued support for the country’s energy transition.”

Financial close is expected by the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, regulatory consents, and approvals. BTG Pactual (BVMF: BPAC11) acted as financial advisor to La Caisse, with Pinheiro Neto Advogados serving as legal counsel. Citibank (NYSE: C) advised Grupo Energía Bogotá on the financial side, while Mayer Brown provided legal advice to GEB.

Htwenty Capital is one of those early stage venture firms. During a recent event organized by the City of Medellín’s investment promotion agency, ACI Medellín, Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia and Cognitive Business News was able to spend some time with the investment fund’s Platform Lead, Jimena Cortés to discuss the unique challenges—and opportunities that Colombia presents when it comes to funding and growing high potential startups.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Jimena Cortés, who works with HTwenty Capital. What’s your role with HTwenty Capital?

Jimena Cortés: Sure, thank you very much for the invitation. I’m an investor for Spanish-speaking LATAM in HTwenty, and I also lead the platform efforts, that is, all the efforts we do post-investment for the portfolio.

Finance Colombia: Great, so HTwenty, my understanding is that it’s an early stage –it focuses on early stage seed, pre-seed, maybe Series A investments, really gets in early in the game. And then, you know, I did a little bit of homework, and you guys specialize in working closely, actively, with investors. Kind of holding their hand, serving a little bit more, you know, almost along the incubator route. Is that correct?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, in part, we’re an active fund, we’re super hands-on with our portfolio. A big, important part of our investment thesis is how we can generate value for our portfolio. That’s correct, we also enter in super early stages, it includes pre-seed also; pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A is our sweet spot. And yeah, we have a really important network of advisors, super specialized in product, or on B2B acquisition, or technology. And we also have a playbook of partnerships and different stakeholders to help our portfolio, but we also strategically work along with them super closely.

Finance Colombia: Now, one interesting thing I noticed is that you guys have offices here in Colombia, in Mexico City, and Miami. You guys chose that geography as opposed to, let’s say, the traditional Silicon Valley or Boston or New York. Why?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, I think there are two answers to that question. The first one is that our thesis is a cross-border thesis, so we are super focused on creating this cross-border network, so companies from Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico can go to find operations in the US, but also from Colombia and Argentina to Mexico. So that’s an important part. And second, the ecosystem in Miami it’s growing in a really interesting way; it’s not the traditional Silicon Valley ecosystem, but we have a lot of second-time or third-time founders creating companies in Miami. So the ecosystem is getting pretty interesting, so we are making a bet on the Miami ecosystem.

“We invest in early stages. So basically, our sweet spot is pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A.” – Jimena Cortés

Finance Colombia: Great. So speaking of here in Colombia, you’re Colombian, right?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, I’m Colombian.

Finance Colombia: So this has to be, you know, a point of personal pride that international venture capital firms are taking notice. What are the unique challenges compared to other Latin American locations like Mexico or Brazil? What are the unique challenges that Colombia faces when it comes to attracting venture capital?

Jimena Cortés: Yes, I think Colombia has done a pretty good job because we have a really good talent, technical talent, that is aiming to build interesting things. I think what’s more challenging is the exit ecosystem. Colombia has a small public or IPO system, so we have to look for other types of exits that are more in the private sector, and that’s how we attract these exits. Like in the US, there is a huge market on the M&A side. So I think the challenge here in Colombia is how we are going to exit to make the returns we expect, and how we also get into reasonable valuations.

Finance Colombia: Good point. I think that when we look at, for example, Colombian-listed companies, they tend to list –You know, I remember Tecnoglass, for example, a Colombian company. Now they’re based in Miami. They went from BVC in Bogotá to NASDAQ, then from NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange. When we look at the multilatinos, like here in Medellín, we have Grupo SURA, Bancolombia, Ecopetrol, and they’re all listed on the New York Stock Exchange. A lot of them also list in the BVC, maybe more for patriotism, I think, than anything else. So, because of that, it kind of precludes, to a large degree, going to a traditional domestic IPO because the capital markets or the demand for the securities aren’t there. Have you seen any companies, aside from obvious ones like, let’s say, Rappi, have you seen companies that have done international IPOs, that maybe it might be a company with Colombian roots, or other companies in your portfolio, Mexico, or elsewhere, that have gone the IPO route? Or is it more of, let’s look and get a strategic acquisition or private equity, or some other type of exit?

Jimena Cortés: Yeah. In this instance, we have not yet had any company that has made an IPO, either on their local market or in the US. We are looking more for private, targeted acquisitions strategically.

Finance Colombia: Now, looking at it from the entrepreneur standpoint, what type of venture, what type of founder, what type of entrepreneur should consider approaching HTwenty, and at what stage in their project?

Jimena Cortés : Sure. I think in early-stage VC, the founder and the founding team are the most important thing. So we focus on founding and building long-term relationships with these founders. We look for founders who are super technical, who have a lot of experience in the segment of the market they are approaching; we also value a lot the networking they can generate on the problem they are solving, and the obsession and passion for that particular problem, so they want to solve it. That passion that they feel about it.

We invest in early stages. So basically, our sweet spot is pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A. We normally make tickets between 500,000 and 1.2 million. That’s our strategy. We look for equity ownership between 8% to 12% in these companies to build our long-term equity ownership for the ramp-up and the exits.

We have three main sectors we like to invest in. The first one is FinTech infrastructure. In LATAM, we have been focusing a lot on FinTech infrastructure because we see there’s a lot of gap in the technological infrastructure we have. For example, we invest in acquiring processing, in cross-border payments, in remittances, in collections, and public services. So we are going deeper into the infrastructure on the FinTech side. We think that through this infrastructure, with technology in this infrastructure, we can permeate the technological ecosystem in the region.

Second, we invest in verticalized SaaS, super focused on a particular value generation, like we have in restaurants, we have in inventory management, and other types of SaaS.

And AI. I think AI, of course, is a trending topic, but we are trying to understand how AI works as a backbone in the products and operations of our companies to make it more efficient and more productive. So with 30 people, you can do what you did three years ago, five years ago, you did with a hundred people.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely. And, you know, you’ve been generous with your time. It’s starting to get hot, the sun’s coming up here, I see that. I don’t want us to melt. But you know, I was looking at your website… You guys have some success stories that you’re pretty proud of that are still, of course, in the developmental stages. You mentioned the restaurant company that has restaurant SaaS software. Just mention maybe two or three of the companies that you guys have in your portfolio that are doing interesting things.

Jimena Cortés: Sure. For example, we have Felix Pago. That is a company that has recently closed its Series B with QED as a lead investor. So they have been doing really interesting things, growing at a really interesting pace. So we’re super excited about Felix Pago. We have also, from the Colombian side, Supra, which is working on cross-border payments and was the first investment made by Citibank New York here in LATAM. And we also have Akua, who is a founder from Medellín. They are building really interesting things in acquiring processing, and they closed the biggest pre-seed round in the region. So we’re excited about all the companies.

Finance Colombia: Congratulations. Much continued success, not just for you guys at HTwenty, but obviously for the Colombian entrepreneurial ecosystem. And what’s your website?

Jimena Cortés: Our website is www.htwenty.vc.

Finance Colombia: Thanks so much.

Jimena Cortés: Thank you.

The collaboration between Bayport and Citibank began in 2022, and the increased credit facility marks a significant milestone in their relationship. Bayport plans to use the additional funding to continue its growth in the non-bank lending market, where it currently manages a portfolio exceeding 1.3 trillion pesos and serves over 170,000 clients.

Lilian Perea, CEO of Bayport Colombia, emphasized that the expanded credit facility with Citibank reflects the company’s sustained growth and solid financial management. “This renewed trust will allow us to advance our mission of promoting financial inclusion, particularly in communities underserved by traditional banks,” said Perea.

David Castillo, Head of Financial Institutions at Citi Colombia, highlighted Citi’s ongoing support for Bayport’s growth strategy, particularly in reaching underserved populations. “We are excited to continue supporting Bayport as it expands its services to more Colombians,” Castillo noted.

Bayport Colombia focuses on providing accessible credit solutions to pensioners, public sector employees, military personnel, and police, particularly those with limited or no credit history. Through its payroll loans, the company aims to enhance financial inclusion in communities traditionally excluded from mainstream banking. Additionally, Bayport offers financial education resources, including free courses and digital content, to help Colombians make informed financial decisions.

This credit facility expansion aligns with Bayport’s strategy to deepen its impact in the country’s financial sector while continuing to address the needs of underserved communities.

The secured resources will be used to grant loans to workers, retirees, and members of the country’s armed forces, who according to Bayport, have had a difficult time obtaining access to bank financing.

Payroll-based consumer lending is known as Libranzas in Colombia

Elizabeth Rey, Corporate & Investment Banking Head for Citi Colombia told Finance Colombia that “Citi conducted extensive due diligence efforts over Bayport’s business, including among others, the assessment of its corporate governance standards, its credit profile, loan portfolio, and growth prospects, evidencing on the company’s stand as a relevant player in Colombia’s payroll loan industry and its contribution to financial inclusion locally.”

“We continue to explore various options to achieve, in the second half of the year, the double-digit growth of our portfolio estimated in 2022.  We decided to prioritize financing with Citibank Colombia given the size of the financing opportunity and the optimal conditions they offer us,” says Lilian Perea (above photo), CEO of Bayport Colombia.

“Achieving this financial transaction closing with Citibank Colombia allows us to secure sufficient resources to continue providing opportunities to those Colombians who do not have access to bank loans due to their low credit score, which prevents them from progressing and improving their quality of life. That is why we work hard to achieve financial democratization and seek alliances with organizations in which we share the vision of promoting progress in emerging economies like ours, to ensure access to credit lines tailored to the needs of Colombians so that they can move forward, transform their lives and achieve their dreams,” says Perea.

“For over a century of operations, Citi Colombia has been a trusted partner for its clients, connecting financial institutions, multinationals, national companies and governments through our unparalleled global network. For more than 100 years we have worked hard to be a bridge for investors willing to bet on this country’s future, as well as for Colombian entrepreneurs looking to internationalize their businesses. Citi has a clear vision of its role in ensuring this stability, contributing to the country’s economic recovery, and closing the gaps in Colombian society. We know that Colombia offers excellent investment opportunities, both in traditional segments and new avenues for growth that have great potential for the country’s entrepreneurial and technological talent, natural resources and biodiversity, and strategic geographic position, concluded Rey.

Bayport Colombia initiated operations in Colombia in 2011, and now claims 65,000 borrowers with 1.1 billion pesos in loans. This gives Bayport 30% of the non-bank consumer lender market in the country, with 17 branches in 15 cities.

Bayport Management was formed in South Africa to offer simple credit alternatives to those who lack access to bank financing. Globally, Bayport serves half a million borrowers in Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Mexico and Colombia.

One of the motions the air carrier filed in connection with the commencement of its voluntary reorganization proceedings includes a list of its five largest creditors, that includes: the name of each creditor, an estimated amount of such creditor’s claim and a description of the collateral granted, shown below:

Other major creditors called out in the El Tiempo article include Citibank, IAE International Aero Engines AG, Banco Davivienda, General Electric & CFM International, SAP Colombia, Banco Agrícola de El Salvador, Terpel, Lufthansa Group, Banco Cuscatlán de El Salvador, Puma Energy, Microsoft, Chevron Petroleum & Bancolombia.

Fitch Downgrades Avianca’s Issuer Default Rating to ‘D’

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Avianca Holdings S.A.’s (Avianca) Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to ‘D’ from ‘C’. Fitch has affirmed Avianca’s senior unsecured bond issuance at ‘C’/RR6’ and the secured notes at ‘C’. Fitch revised the Recovery Rating of the secured notes to ‘RR6’ from ‘RR4’, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus on the sector and diminished recovery values of aircraft that were used as collateral for the secured bonds.

The downgrades to ‘D’ follow Avianca’s announcement that it has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. This process will result in material changes in the terms and conditions of its debt. Once the airline exits the administration proceedings, Fitch will assess its new strategy and restructured financial profile and re-rate Avianca accordingly.

Key Ratings Drivers

Voluntary Reorganization Proceedings: Avianca announced on May 10, 2020 that it had filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors due to liquidity pressure it faces from the Covid-19 pandemic. Avianca did not pay $67 million USD due on its outstanding unsecured bonds on May 10, 2020 and will not pay the coupon payment of its senior secured bonds due 2023.

Covid-19 Lockdown: Avianca has temporarily ceased to operate all regular passenger flight operations due to a decision by several governments to close airspace as of March 25, 2020. The return of operations is still uncertain. Avianca has offered a voluntary unpaid leave program, and around 14,000 employees have accepted this offer. This led to a decline in the company’s revenues by more than 80% and has squeezed its liquidity position. Avianca’s operating cash flow remains highly uncertain for 2020, as it is unknown when the company will be able to restart operations and what restrictions may be placed upon operations at that time.

Wilmington bank images from Twitter.

In addition to collateral benefits, the funds “will be used to provide letters of credit to fund exploration and transportation commitments in Colombia and Peru,” said the Toronto-based company in a statement.

Frontera Energy said that this line of credit, which has an initial term of eight months as a secured credit facility, is being used to replace Frontera’s current secured letter of credit, which includes $81.9 million USD of used capacity that will mature on June 22.

Following the initial eight months, the term of the credit facility is expected to be extended to two years “upon satisfaction of certain extension conditions,” according to Frontera Energy. The provision of the new arrangement will thereby “allow Frontera to release collateral and reduce the company’s cost of funds,” stated the firm.

“During the initial term, the credit facility will have substantially the same security, covenants, and events of defaults as the [current facility] and the company’s senior secured notes due 2021,” added Frontera. “Upon satisfaction of the extension conditions, the credit facility will become an unsecured facility and the guarantors under the credit facility will be limited to the Company’s principal subsidiaries.”

READ MORE: Frontera Energy Sees Year-Over-Year Production and Sales Declines in First Quarter

The new credit facility has been arranged by Itaú Corpbanca Colombia S.A., Citibank N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., HSBC Mexico S.A., Institución de Banca Multiple, Grupo Financiero HSBC, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

While the company, which has operated as an oil producer Colombia for decades, previously under the name Pacific Rubiales, has emerged from the worst of its financial and operational difficulties of recent years, challenges remain to improving its financial results.

In the first quarter of 2018, with $249.5 million USD in sales and a net loss of $3.1 million USD, it saw year-over-year declines in both profitability and oil production (which fell by around 5,000 barrels per day compared to the first quarter of 2017).

“The new facility further strengthens our balance sheet, credit profile and long-term access to capital,” said David Dyck, chief financial officer of Frontera Energy. “This gives us great confidence as we continue to position ourselves for growth in 2018.”

Citibank operations in Colombian include 500,000 customers, 47 branches, and 424 self-service access points in Colombia. The deal also includes “assumption by Banco Colpatria of Citibank’s workforce,” according to Scotiabank.

Citigroup, which has operated in Colombia for more than a century, began looking to sell its consumer business in Colombia two years ago. In October 2016, as part of strategy to exit the market throughout South America, the New York-based banking conglomerate sold its consumer business in Brazil to Itaú Unibanco for a reported $220 million USD and its consumer business in Argentina to Banco Santander Rio.

But six weeks after it completed unloading those assets, Citi announced that it had suspended its attempt to sell its consumer business in Colombia. While it called Colombia “a strategic market for Citi” at the time, popular speculation swirled that it had proven unable to find a buyer offering acceptable terms.

Apparently now, in making a deal with Scotiabank, the financial giant has received a good enough offer to fulfill its original intention to leave the consumer business, as first announced in February 2016. Financial terms were not announced.

“We’re excited about this acquisition because it will allow us to serve new customers in Colombia and it is in line with Scotiabank’s strategy to increase scale within the Colombian banking sector, as well as the other Pacific Alliance economies of Mexico, Chile, and Peru,” said Nacho Deschamps, group head of international banking and digital transformation at Scotiabank.

The agreement, which will include proportional investments from Scotiabank and Mercantil Colpatria to maintain their current stakes in Colpatria, is subject to regulatory approval. “The transaction is not financially material to Scotiabank,” said the Toronto-based bank in a statement.

The company also highlighted the benefits the deal will have for its credit card business and potential gains of adding Citibank customers to the Scotiabank’s “global wealth management network.”

The Canadian bank said that operations at Citibank locations in Colombia will continue “as usual” until regulatory approval is finalized. It added that “Banco Colpatria, Scotiabank, and Citibank will work together to ensure a smooth transition for customers and employees.”

Citigroup will retain its corporate business in Colombia, something that the bank had maintained was its plan since the bank’s original 2016 announcement that it wanted to exit the consumer market in the Andean nation.

“Citi will keep its presence in the country with all of its current corporate and investment bank product offerings — cash management, international trade, custody service, treasury, markets and investment banking – sharpening our focus on our corporate and institutional clients,” said Alvaro Jaramillo, Colombia country head and Latin America north cluster head for Citi.

(Photo credit: bruceg1001)

According to the regional development bank, which is AAA-rated by Moody’s, the transaction will pay a semi-annual coupon of 2.5% and mature on January 18, 2023. It is “priced with a spread of 15.7 basis points over the 2.125% UST due December 31, 2022, which represents a yield of 2.500% s.a.,” said the IDB in a statement.

Orders exceeded $5.2 billion USD from more than 100 investors, which were distributed across the Americas (39% of the investors); Asia and the Pacific (22%); and Europe, Africa, and the Middle East (39%).

As for the types of investors, 48% are banks, 36% are central banks (and other “official institutions”), 13% are asset managers, and the remaining 3% are a collection of pension funds, insurance companies, and corporate investors.

“We usually issue $3 billion USD benchmarks in this maturity and so we are very pleased with the result,” said Laura Fan, head of funding at the IDB.

The joint lead managers are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, and TD Securities. The co-lead managers are BNP Paribas, Citibank, Deutsche, Goldman, HSBC, JPM, Mizuho, Nomura, NatWest, and Wells Fargo.

Fen added that the “typical strong demand in January” for the bond issuance made it particularly significant in a number of ways. “It is our largest five-year primary U.S. dollar global benchmark, our largest five-year order book, and a record number of investors for a five-year bond,” she said.

This followed similar selloffs initiated in 2014 in Latin American markets including Peru and Costa Rica as Michael Corbat, who took over as Citigroup CEO in 2012, tried to cut costs and scale back operations.

But today’s announcement suggests that Citi may want to retain its retail banking for the long term in Colombia, a market that it first entered exactly 100 years ago in 1916.

“Citi has decided to suspend the sale process of the consumer banking and commercial banking of Citibank Colombia S.A. announced on February 19, 2016, keeping the mentioned business lines until further notice,” said the U.S.-based company in a statement. “Our operation in the country, a strategic market for Citi that already has 100 years of history, will continue normally, focused on continuing to deliver to clients excellent products and services of the financial market in the country and seeking to contribute with the progress of Colombia.”

The sale of its consumer banking business in Brazil already took place. It reached a deal on October 8 with Itaú Unibanco. The following day, it announced the sale of its consumer banking in Argentina to Banco Santander Rio.

It remains unclear whether Citigroup now believes Colombia is a better market for its consumer services going forward or it has simply been unable to find a buyer. It had always planned to retain its corporate banking segment in Colombia.

Photo Credit: Jeff Turner

By Robert Young (originally posted to Flickr as Watering Hole) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Citi CEO Michael Corbat

Citi CEO Michael Corbat said, “While our Consumer businesses in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia are of high quality, we have decided to focus our efforts on opportunities with our institutional clients in these countries and throughout the wider region. Citi is committed to Latin America, where we have operated for over a century and built an unmatched network across 23 countries.”

The consumer businesses moving into Citi Holdings include roughly $6 billion in assets and did not have a material impact on Citigroup’s net income in 2015. Without the South American participation, Citibank’s global consumer banking footprint will comprise of approximately 54 million clients in the United States, Mexico, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

“We allocate our resources where they can generate the best possible returns for our shareholders. These actions will further simplify our Global Consumer Bank, allowing us to more effectively deploy resources to where we have the ability to achieve scale within our targeted segments and see the greatest opportunity for growth,” added Corbat.

Headline photo credit bruceg1001 – flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/62697772@N02/8161979478 used under creative commons license