Billionaire Gilinski to Woo Nutresa Shareholders This Week

(Bloomberg) -- Banking billionaire Jaime Gilinski plans to meet with Grupo Nutresa SA shareholders in coming days to promote the value of his $2.2 billion offer for the Colombian food maker, the biggest deal he has attempted in his decades-long career. 

Gilinski, one of Colombia’s richest men, said stakeholders should take “very seriously” his offer to buy a majority of shares in the Medellin-based company, which represents a premium of 38% from the closing price before the deal was announced earlier this month. The offer, details of which were published in Sunday’s edition of El Tiempo newspaper, is $7.71 a share payable in cash, Colombian pesos or dollars and will close Dec. 17.

“Everybody has a tremendous fiduciary responsibility to the people they represent. At the end of the day, those are the shareholders,” Gilinski said in an interview from Miami. “This is a great offer for shareholders.”

Gilinski and his son, Gabriel, are partnering with the Abu Dhabi royal family -- through their investment vehicle, the Royal Group -- to buy a minimum of 50.1% of shares and a maximum of 62.6%. First Abu Dhabi Bank has provided a letter of credit for $1.08 billion and Banco GNB Sudameris provided another for the equivalent in pesos of $23 million, according to the notice in El Tiempo.

Gilinski said it’s the largest acquisition he’s attempted in a career that spans more than four decades.

Key to the bid’s success will be the participation of conglomerates Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA, or Sura, and Grupo Argos SA, which hold a combined 45.3% of Nutresa. Along with pension fund manager Proteccion SA, which overseas funds that hold an additional 5.2% stake, the Medellin-based companies are part of a business group called Grupo Empresarial Antioqueno, or GEA, which had developed a cross-holding structure to fend off buyout attempts. 

Armed with approval from Colombian regulators, Gilinski said he will meet with investors to present the rationale for his buyout, mainly the value it represents for shareholders. Nutresa’s shares have dipped more than 50% in dollar terms over the past decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

“Even though these are excellent companies and very well-run companies -- I respect very highly the management and CEO of Nutresa -- the market hasn’t reflected that in terms of value,” he said. “Everybody has to take it very seriously.” 

If his bid is successful, Gilinski said he plans to keep Nutresa based in Medellin but will also help open new markets including in the Middle East to sell the company’s snacks, cold cuts, coffee and chocolate. 

Gilinski, 63, entered the Colombian banking sector in the early 1990s and developed a multibillion empire that spans financial, media and real estate sectors, including ownership of a Bogota news magazine, Four Seasons hotels and a massive development on a former air force base near the Panama Canal. 

The Harvard Business School graduate is currently a board member of Bogota-based Banco GNB Sudameris. His net worth is $4.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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