Avianca caught in battle between shareholders

Stock of Colombia’s national airline Avianca has sold off by more than 25 percent this year as a rift between the company’s two largest shareholders has become an all-out legal dogfight.

Salvadoran businessman Roberto Kriete, who owns 22 percent of the company, is suing Bolivian billionaire German Efromovich – the company’s chairman and largest shareholder with a 78 percent ownership – for “plundering” Avianca for personal gain.

Kriete, described as “a straight shooter” and as a man who “always stands up for issues of national interest”, is seen by some as the shareholders’ answer to an “uncontrollable” chairman, according to the Financial Times.

Source: Colombia Reports