By Ryan Dube
LIMA, Peru--Peru's government Monday gave the green light to
Chilean pension-fund manager AFP Habitat SA to begin conducting
business in the country.
Peru's Superintendent of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds
issued a resolution in official gazette El Peruano authorizing AFP
Habitat to start developing its "activities at the national
level."
Last year, AFP Habitat won a government auction that gave it the
right to manage the private pensions of about 700,000 new account
holders. AFP Habitat won the auction by offering to charge the
lowest commission.
The auction was part of a government plan to overhaul the
private pension-fund system in order to increase coverage and
attract new fund managers.
Peru's current pension-fund managers include Prima AFP SA
(PRIMAC1.VL), which is controlled by Credicorp Ltd. (BAP, BAP.VL);
AFP Integra SA (INTEGRC1.VL), owned by Colombia's Grupo de
Inversiones Suramericana SA (GIVSY, GRUPOSURA.BO); and Profuturo
AFP SA (PROFUTC1.VL), whose main shareholder is a unit of Bank of
Nova Scotia (BNS, BNS.T).
In April, AFP Integra and Profuturo AFP each acquired a 50%
stake in another fund, AFP Horizonte SA (HORIZC1.VL), which had
been owned mainly by Holding Continental SA and Spain's Banco
Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA, BBVA.MC).
Write to Ryan Dube at ryan.dube@dowjones.com