The Bancolombia board of directors gave the go-ahead to the issuance of up to $1 billion in ordinary bonds over a 10 year period, local media reported Tuesday.
According to Dinero, these ordinary bonds can located in Colombia or overseas though the Medellin based financial group did not specify the destination of the funds the bonds will raise.
Bancolombia has been active in the stock market in recent months, taking advantage of low interest rates, plentiful liquidity and high demand for emerging market assets.
Some observers are not ruling out the possibility that the bank will use the money to launch an international operation such as buying a foreign bank, Portafolio reported. Earlier this month there was speculation that Bancolombia would open a branch in Peru.
In addition to the international bonds, Bancolombia is seeking the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide finance for energy projects. The transaction the bank is proposing is that the IFC together with the Inter-American Development Bank give a guarantee for half the value of a project which is expected to cost $113 million.
