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BTG, which has 25% of VivoCorp, is not part of the deal, but is expected to join. Patio could buy all or part of the operator, or merge.
The Patio group reached an agreement with Inversiones Terra, a company belonging to the real estate arm of CorpGroup (linked to the Saieh clan), which it could end in the purchase of all or part of VivoCorp’s assets, or in a merger.
The parties have just announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding that establishes a period of 120 days for an exclusive negotiation, with the objective that the firm linked to the Jalaff and Elberg may jointly participate or acquire all or part of VivoCorp’s businesses. In any formula that results after this period, the Patio group will control.
VivoCorp’s portfolio of assets is made up of shopping centers, outlets, strip centers and street stores, with a presence throughout the country. Today, the company It is controlled by Inversiones Terra, 75%, while the remaining 25% is in the hands of BTG Pactual Renta Comercial Fondo de Inversión. Although the financial entity linked to the Brazilian André Esteves is not part of this exclusive negotiation agreement, it is expected that it will join.
“We are very confident that in the next few months we will reach a satisfactory agreement for both us and BTG,” said Jorge Andrés Saieh.
The purchase Patio’s 100% of VivoCorp could mean an outlay that would exceed US $ 1 billion.
In an essential fact, Patio pointed out that the transaction “can only be carried out once it has the corresponding corporate and regulatory authorizations.”
If the sale of their shares is finalized, and a merger is not sealed, the Saieh family could manage to make a millionaire box, which would go to pay off its upstream debt after failing to pay the US $ 17 million installment of CorpGroup Banking’s US $ 500 million bond expiring in 2023; thus, the conglomerate’s possibility of having to file for Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Law would vanish.
Álvaro Saieh delegated to his son Jorge Andrés the task of implementing a plan to fulfill his obligations. Until now, it was always pointed out that everything was a problem that only concerns Corp Group, whose flows and guarantees are given by the Itaú bank in Chile and Colombia. Given this, it was always said that neither SMU, nor VivoCorp, nor the family’s personal assets were within the equation. However, eventually, the Saieh family decided to negotiate the sale of VivoCorp.
Old acquaintances
In fact, it was Jorge Andrés Saieh himself who has been in charge of the negotiations with Grupo Patio, managed by Alvaro Jalaff.
According to insiders, the first approaches between the two started at the last fair of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) in Las Vegas last year. Then the talks continued intermittently and informally in Santiago, until things accelerated in the last two weeks with several meetings in both New York and Miami, where Jalaff is seeing new investment.
In addition, Andrés Solari, vice president of the Grupo Patio board and general manager of Algeciras – linked to Eduardo Elberg, former owner of the Santa Isabel supermarkets – has played a key role as one of the main promoters and coordinators of the agreement. If successful, Patio would incorporate a set of complementary assets to those it currently operates and would deepen its geographic diversification, reaching coverage from Arica to Punta Arenas.
Álvaro Jalaff said after announcing the agreement with Saieh: “We are convinced that, if this operation is completed, many opportunities will be generated. It is a market in which we have extensive experience, so we are confident that we can generate significant shared value.”
Between Patio shareholders also include Paola Luksic and the Abumohor and Khamis families.
In 2019, Patio – with a presence in Chile, Peru, Mexico and the US, and which operates more than 110 assets – acquired 60% of the shares of the company Desarrollos Comerciales belonging to Vivocorp for US $ 22 million. Earlier this year, Patio Comercial, in association with the LV Patio Renta Inmobiliaria fund, sealed the purchase of three office buildings and a hotel for some US $ 170 million.
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