Mexican microlender Te Creemos SA de CV Sociedad Financiera Popular has signed an agreement to acquire a 100% stake in rival Consejo de Asistencia al Microemprendedor SA de CV SFP, according to a report by El Economista.
The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, will reportedly make Te Creemos the second-largest microfinancing company in Mexico, both in terms of assets and number of customers. The deal could be finalized in the next 6 to 12 months.
The merged entity will serve around 660,000 clients in 466 branches and operate a loan portfolio worth 4.74 billion Mexican pesos.
The deal follows a string of acquisitions by Te Creemos in recent years, which catapulted the entity to be the No. 3 player in the so-called "sofipo" market, a classification for microlenders by regulator CNBV.
As of March 9, US$1 was equivalent to 18.57 Mexican pesos.
