Standard buys stake

Standard buys stake

Standard Chartered yesterday succeeded in buying a 67 per cent stake of Banco Exterior de los Andes y de Espana, the regional South American bank, for about $164m (pounds 97m) in an auction. Extebandes shareholders include state banks from Spain, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. Venezuela's privatisation body, the Venezuelan Investment Fund, did not sell its 32.7 per cent stake in the bank. "We're keeping that as an investment," one of the fund's officials said. The base price for the auction of the 67 per cent stake, in which Banque Nationale de Paris also bid, was $170m for the whole bank.