JAIME GILINSKI

Jaime Gilinski Bacal was born in 1957 in Cali, Colombia, into a family of Jewish-Lithuanian descent. His father Isaac Gilinski was already a successful businessman.

But Jaime took the family to a different level. He studied at Harvard Business School and worked briefly at Citibank before returning to Colombia to build his banking empire.

He acquired Banco GNB in 1993 and grew it into one of Colombia's major private banks. In 2012, he bought HSBC's operations in Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay for approximately $400 million, instantly making Banco GNB Sudameris a regional powerhouse.

The bank now operates in four countries with assets of over $15 billion.

But the move that put Gilinski on the global radar came in late 2021. He launched surprise hostile takeover bids on Grupo Sura and Grupo Nutresa, two pillars of the so-called GEA Group, a network of Medellin-based conglomerates that had cross-held each other's shares for decades as a defensive shield.

Gilinski and his partner Abu Dhabi's Royal Group offered billions of dollars. The bids triggered the biggest corporate battle in Colombian history.

He acquired significant stakes in both companies but didn't achieve full control. The war shook Colombia's business establishment to its foundation.

Banco GNB Sudameris (controlling shareholder), Metro Bank UK (major shareholder, previously majority owner), Grupo Nutresa (major shareholder), Grupo Sura (major shareholder), GNB Financial Group

Gilinski is a financial predator in the best sense of the word. He identifies entrenched corporate structures that have gotten complacent, calculates their real value, and makes bold moves to unlock it.

He doesn't care about making friends. He cares about returns.

His approach is classic activist/hostile takeover investing. He studies cross-shareholding structures, identifies where value is trapped by cozy boardroom arrangements, and uses cash offers to break them apart.

The GEA Group attack in 2021-2022 was a textbook example. Three Medellin conglomerates had held each other's shares for years, keeping outsiders away.

Gilinski found the weak point and drove a truck through it.

Acquiring HSBC's Latin American operations in 2012 for roughly $400 million. HSBC was retreating from emerging markets and Gilinski swooped in.

He got four-country banking operations for a price that would have barely bought a single bank in those markets at full value. Those operations now generate reliable profits and give Banco GNB a regional footprint that punches well above its weight.

It was a perfectly timed acquisition at the bottom of the market.

The hostile takeover bids on Grupo Sura and Grupo Nutresa in 2021-2022 were brilliantly conceived but only partially successful. Gilinski spent billions acquiring stakes but didn't achieve full control of either company.

The GEA Group's cross-shareholding structure proved more resilient than expected. He's now a major minority shareholder in two conglomerates where the existing management isn't exactly rolling out the welcome mat.

Being a large, unwanted shareholder is an awkward position. The value might eventually be unlocked, but it's taking longer and costing more than the original plan.

Value is created when you break apart structures that exist to protect insiders at the expense of shareholders. Gilinski fundamentally believes that Latin American corporate governance is too cozy.

Boards protect each other, families cross-hold shares to prevent takeovers, and minority shareholders get the scraps. His career has been about challenging those structures and arguing that companies should be run for all shareholders, not just the ones who have been there the longest.

Born in 1957 in Cali, Colombia, into a Jewish-Lithuanian Colombian family. His father Isaac Gilinski was a prominent businessman.

Jaime has multiple children, including Gabriel Gilinski, who has become increasingly active in the family business and was instrumental in the Grupo Sura and Nutresa bids. The Gilinski family operates as a tight unit, with family members holding key positions across the banking and investment operations.

Gilinski earned a bachelor's degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also worked at Citibank before returning to Colombia.

The Harvard MBA and Citibank training gave him the tools and confidence to operate at a level of financial sophistication that few Colombian businessmen matched at the time.

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