Bancomer Sale Won’t Affect La Mesa Bank, President Says

The sale of Bancomer, Mexico’s second-largest bank, to a group of private investors in that country should have no immediate effect on Grossmont Bank, a La Mesa-based bank that is owned by Bancomer, Grossmont President Donald Clague said Tuesday.

Mexican officials Monday announced that an investor group led by Eugenio Garza Laguera, the chairman of Mexico’s top brewery, had made the winning bid for Bancomer. The group will receive 51% of the bank’s stock in exchange for $2.5 billion.

Bancomer acquired Grossmont in 1972, Clague said. “We’re a separate subsidiary, and a California corporation,” Clague said. Bancomer, which has two representatives on Grossmont’s board of directors, has treated Grossmont as an “investment,” Clague said.

Clague declined to comment on what changes the sale would bring at Bancomer. “I think they are probably happier to be in private hands,” Clague said.

Grossmont bank, with 11 branches, reported $1.3 million in net income for the six-month period ended June 30.

The bank had $354 million in assets on June 30.