Monterrey, Mexico–based Grupo Financiero Banorte has agreed to pay $1.6 billion to acquire the Mexican pension fund business of Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).
Banorte will finance half the acquisition of the unit, called Afore Bancomer, with the other half to be put up by Mexican Social Security Institute—a state-owned organization that co-owns an existing Banorte pension fund, Afore XXI Banorte, via which the acquisition will be made. Afore Bancomer manages more than $21 billion in assets through nearly 4.5 million accounts. By adding the unit, Banorte, one of Mexico’s largest financial institutions, will become the country’s largest pension fund manager.
