Delegates of Costa Rica's Coopenae and CoopeAnde savings and credit cooperatives voted on Saturday to merge, a deal that would create the country's largest cooperative lender, The Rio Times reports, citing local media including La Nación.
Under the plan, approved at separate extraordinary assemblies, Coopenae would absorb CoopeAnde, which would cease to exist as a legal entity. The combined business would operate under the Coopenae name with about 1.62 trillion colones (roughly US$3.6bn) in assets, based on regulator figures from July. El Financiero says that would make it the fourth-largest private financial intermediary in Costa Rica.
The merger still has to pass through regulatory stages. Coopenae's general manager, Adrián Álvarez, called the vote a concrete step towards consolidation.
Source: The Rio Times