Colombina S.A.

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What it is

Colombina is a Colombian food company based in Cali that produces and sells hard and soft candies, biscuits, gummy sweets, ice cream, desserts, chocolates, sauces, and canned goods — making it one of the largest and most traditional food manufacturers in the country. Its operating segments run from confectionery and chocolate to biscuits, preserved foods, ice cream, and a “represented” line of third-party brands, with confectionery — sweets, chewing gum, marshmallows — as the biggest revenue driver.

The group serves roughly 750,000 clients nationally and internationally, and its products are exported to more than 90 countries. Seven production plants — in Colombia, Guatemala, and Spain — supply all those markets.

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Who owns it

The Caicedo founding family controls Colombina through a web of family companies and trusts. From the company’s own 2024 governance filing: the largest single bloc is held by Hernando Caicedo Toro’s family vehicle, Hilda Capurro de Caicedo & Cía.

S. en C., with 16.69%; Lumumba S.A.S. holds 10.66%; and three Caicedo-linked fideicomisos (Farallones, Valle I, and Cali) together account for roughly a further 29.6%.

Other family-linked names visible in the governance report include Carlos A. Ospina, Juan Guillermo Salazar V., and Mauricio Caicedo A.

In total, board members collectively hold 35.25% of shares in circulation, confirming family dominance of the vote.

The free float is thin: a total of 376,426,232 shares are in circulation but outside concentrated family holdings, only a small residual trades freely on the BVC.

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Who runs it

César A. Caicedo Jaramillo holds the title of Executive President, a role the company’s own history page says he took on to modernise Colombina’s vision while expanding its international affiliate network.

He has led the company for over two decades; his grandfather Hernando and his father Jaime laid the foundations of the business before him. He was recognised as Businessman of the Year 2022 by the daily La República.

The company is also administered by a General Manager who holds legal representation, and a nine-member board of directors with alternates. Hernando Caicedo Toro chairs the board; his first appointment dates to March 1988, according to the 2024 governance report.

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The money, in plain words

In its most recent full year (2025), Colombina recorded net revenues of COP $3.54 trillion (~USD $1.03 billion), a 7% increase on 2024. Of that, it kept about 2.8 cents of profit for every peso of sales — a net profit margin of 2.8% (our calculation) — thin by global food-industry standards, squeezed by Colombia’s rising tax on processed foods and a strong peso that cut the dollar value of export revenues.

Net profit for 2025 came to COP $100,161 million (~USD $29.1 million), a 20% fall from 2024. The operating cash buffer — measured as EBITDA, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, essentially the cash a business generates before financing costs — was COP $418,897 million (~USD $121.7 million), an EBITDA margin of 11.8%: decent for a food manufacturer, though down from 14.1% in 2024.

Debt sits at 3.4× EBITDA (our calculation from the 2025 annual report), a level that credit agency Fitch evidently considers manageable — it rated Colombina AA+(col) with a Positive Outlook, the second-highest investment-grade mark on Colombia’s national scale.

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What it is doing now

In the most recent move disclosed, Colombina opened direct operations in Bolivia and the United Arab Emirates, bringing its international affiliate count to 16 countries. The executive president highlighted these two new offices — Dubai and Bolivia — as part of a deliberate push into under-served export markets.

A late-2025 Bon Bon Bum flavour collaboration with Mexican brand Tajín went viral, reaching roughly 20 million people organically — a low-cost brand-awareness play that underlines how the company is using social media rather than heavy advertising spending to move product abroad. It also struck an alliance with Colombian bakery brand Ramo to co-produce a Chocoramo ice cream, extending into premium frozen formats.

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What to watch

• The ultra-processed tax: Colombia’s tax on ultra-processed products rose from 10% in 2023 to 15% in 2024 and 20% in 2025, directly hitting Colombina’s core candy and biscuit volumes. Any further increases — or a legal challenge to the tax — would move margins materially.
• Peso strength: International revenues denominated in US dollars are worth less in pesos when the currency strengthens; a 14.7% peso appreciation in 2025 was the single largest drag on profit.
• Debt load: Net debt at 3.4× EBITDA is manageable but leaves little room for a sharp revenue setback. Watch the refinancing profile of the COP $300,000 million bond programme.
• Family succession: Three generations of Caicedos have run this company; the board composition shows the fourth is already embedded. Governance clarity will matter to any minority investor.

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This is news, not investment advice.