In a paid press release published in Diario Libre, the Banco del Progreso explains several points regarding its announced, but later aborted, merger with Baninter in March 2003.
The bank says that the merger had been conditioned to a verification of the assets and liabilities, which were presented in a global manner with no details by the Grupo Intercontinental.
It also clarifies that Luis Alvarez Renta was the promoter of the merger, and would have received a commission if the sale had gone through successfully, which it did not.
The bank also points out that it was unaware of the negotiations between Baninter and the APAP (Asociaci?n Popular de Ahorros y Prestamos).
Banco de Progreso executives worked at Baninter from 25 March to 7 April to collect information to substantiate the data provided by the seller. During that time, representatives of the Monetary and Financial Administration were in charge of the payments being made by Baninter through the Chamber of Compensation and the deposit withdrawals, so as to validate the level of facilities that the Central Bank would provide to Baninter to cover these operations.
On 7 April 2003, and based on technical reports from the Superintendence of Banks and the Central Bank, which revealed a series of accounting irregularities in Baninter, the Monetary Board chose to leave without effect the preliminary purchase agreement and abandon the merger.