Briefs: Morgan Buys Stakes In 2 Venezuela Firms

A subsidiary of J.P. Morgan & Co. has acquired a 9.65% stake in Venezuela's Banco Mercantil and a like stake in Consorcio Inversionista Mercantil CIMA.

The purchases were Morgan's first investment in financial institutions in Latin America.

J.P. Morgan Capital Corp. said Monday that it had acquired the shares purely as an investment for about $30 million on the Caracas stock exchange.

Morgan Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of J.P. Morgan & Co., makes minority equity investments on behalf of the banking company.

Mercantil, established in 1925, is Venezuela's second-largest universal bank, with total assets of $2.6 billion. Consorcio Inversionista is a holding company for several nonbank financial companies and nonfinancial investments.

Morgan has equity holdings in nine Latin American companies, including Latasa, an aluminum can maker in Brazil; Fabril Pacifico, a Peruvian producer and distributor of branded food products; Grupo Cinemex, a developer and operator of multiplex movie theaters in Mexico; and Nortel, the holding company for Telecom Argentina.

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