Latin America and Spain: Shoe on the other foot

CHANGES in relationships can be hard to take. The economic bond between Latin America and Spain, its biggest former colonial power, is shifting as the region’s economies mature. Despite some ruffled feathers, the evolution is positive.After two decades in which Spain amassed assets worth €145 billion ($200 billion) in Latin America, last year was the first in which Latin American companies spent more on acquiring their Spanish counterparts than the other way around (see left-hand chart). Dealogic, a data provider, says Mexican firms were the biggest investors, putting money into Avanza, a bus company, and (with a Chinese firm) Campofrío, a meat processor.Mexican investors have also bought stakes in Banco Popular and Sabadell, two Spanish banks. Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest man, has a variety of business ties with La Caixa, a Catalan savings bank. Banesco, a Venezuelan bank, recently bought NCG, a Galician bank, for €1 billion. A Colombian financier has pledged to invest in a Spanish property firm called, in a nice twist, Colonial.

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via The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/KLsnhy