IFC Funds Salvadoran Firm’s Cali Hotel Plans

In addition to the seven recent Colombia transactions I have covered, there is one more that relates to Colombia and worth noting.

Grupo Poma from El Salvador is arranging for additional financing that includes another hotel in Colombia. Poma is the group behind the Marriott-flagged property on the Avenida El Dorado in Bogotá.

Grupo Poma is a well established family owned business group in Central America majority owned by the Poma family. Ricardo Poma is the Group’s President. The Group was founded in 1919 and it is based in El Salvador. Grupo Poma has been an active IFC client since 1970. Poma is largely a real estate developer (malls, hotels, office buildings, and residential), but it also has automobile distribution and is involved in general manufacturing.

According to the IFC site:

The Project involves two of the main divisions of the Group: (i) construction and operation of shopping malls, which is consolidated under a holding company named International Shopping Center Holdings (“ISCH”); and (ii) lodging business, consolidated under a holding company named Hospitality Services (“HS”).

Total project cost and amount and nature of IFC’s investment

The proposed IFC investment consists of: (i) an A Loan of up to US$30 million; and (ii) a quasi-equity investment of up to US$20 million.

Location of project and description of site

The capital expenses related to the Project are expected to be implemented in different countries throughout Central America, most likely but not limited to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua. In addition, the construction of new hotels will likely encompass a new hotel in Cali Colombia and a second one in a location pending to be determined within the Central America region or Colombia. The refinancing component of the Project will include targeted subsidiaries of the Group pending to be defined.