Rodrigo Toro, Isagen’s former chief financial officer, isn’t going to watch his old company be sold off without a fight.
The 62-year-old engineer, who led a failed attempt to buy the Colombian state-controlled hydropower producer in 2013, is among a group that successfully sued to suspend the latest auction last month of the government’s 5.3 trillion peso ($2.1 billion) majority stake. The delay has left bidders from Canada to Europe in limbo on a transaction that could have highlighted Colombia’s potential as an investment destination and helped offset slowing economic growth.
Instead, it has become a reminder of the difficulty of doing business in the Latin American nation, drawing attention to a legal and administrative system the World Economic Forum ranks below those in Guatemala and Honduras.
