Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana S.A.

What it is

Grupo SURA is the parent company of a business group with a presence in ten countries in Latin America, participating in strategic sectors such as insurance, pensions, savings, investment, and asset management. Think of it as a holding company that owns controlling stakes in three large financial businesses and collects their dividends and profits.

Its three main investments are SURA Asset Management, the leading pension-fund administrator by assets under management in the region; Suramericana, the fourth-largest insurer of Latin American origin by premiums written; and Grupo Cibest-Bancolombia, the holding company of Colombia’s leading bank with significant positions in Central America. SURA Asset Management alone manages COP 734 trillion (~US$213 bn) in assets on behalf of its clients.

Who owns it

After completing a historic corporate restructuring in July 2025, Grupo SURA now has more than 41,000 shareholders with a more democratised ownership structure; the largest single shareholder is the Fondo de Pensiones Obligatorias Protección Moderado — Colombia’s largest mandatory pension fund — holding 11.5% of the total. No single family or state entity holds a controlling block.

The mandatory pension funds, known locally as AFPs, now own the largest combined stake, a shift that analysts broadly welcomed. The restructuring also enlarged the company’s free float, and the ordinary share (GRUPOSURA) was included in the MSCI Global Small Cap Indexes from 15 July 2025.

Who runs it

Ricardo Jaramillo Mejía became President (CEO) of the company on 1 May 2024. Juan Esteban Toro was then appointed Vice-President of Corporate Finance (CFO) from 15 June 2024.

The consolidated and separate financial statements for 2024 were audited by Ernst & Young Audit S.A.S. (EY Colombia).

In the words of CEO Ricardo Jaramillo Mejía, the company has been working to close the gap between the fundamental value of the business and its price in the market. The structural reforms completed in 2025 are the clearest expression of that effort.

The money, in plain words

In 2024, revenues reached COP 37.2 trillion (~US$10.8 bn), 5.4% more than in 2023, of which COP 29.3 trillion (US$8.5 bn) was recurring income. Net profit attributable to controlling shareholders totalled COP 6.1 trillion (~US$1.8 bn), up 294.5%; excluding the one-time gain from the Nutresa transaction, recurring profit was COP 2.4 trillion (US$696 mn), up 24.6%.

The group keeps about 16 cents of controlling profit from every peso of total sales — a net profit margin of 16.4% (our calculation on the headline figure; 6.5% on the recurring figure). The adjusted return on equity reached 12.3%, 210 basis points higher than in 2023, and recurring earnings per share hit a record COP 6,144, (US$2)growing at a compound annual rate of 18.6% over the past five years.

The profit stream was fed by growth in insurance premiums at Suramericana, higher fee income at SURA Asset Management, and equity contributions from Bancolombia (COP 1.5 trillion / ~US$435 mn) and Grupo Argos (COP 766 billion / ~US$222 mn).

What it is doing now

In late July 2025, Grupo SURA completed the full implementation of a partial spin-off with Grupo Argos and Cementos Argos, approved by Colombia’s Superintendencia Financiera on 27 June 2025, which ends 46 years of cross-shareholdings and focuses its portfolio entirely on financial services. This is the most consequential corporate change in the company’s history since its formation.

Since the deal was announced in December 2024, the ordinary share has risen 54% and the preferred share 76% — generating COP 7.5 trillion (~US$2.2 bn) in shareholder value. After the share exchanges and cancellations, the company now has 327.7 million shares in circulation.

What to watch

• Pension-fund overhang: Colombian regulations cap the maximum stake any mandatory pension fund may hold in a single issuer, and after the restructuring, both Porvenir and Protección may exceed those limits, creating potential forced selling pressure.
• Recurring profit trajectory: The 2024 headline profit was inflated by a one-off Nutresa gain; whether Grupo SURA can sustain the 24.6% growth in its underlying COP 2.4 trillion (US$696 mn) recurring earnings is the number to track.
• Index inclusion and foreign capital: The enlarged free float now makes GRUPOSURA eligible for international indices, which could draw in institutional investors who were previously unable to buy a stock with low liquidity.
• Dividend growth: Management projected COP 2.2 trillion (~US$638 mn) in cash inflows from portfolio dividends in 2025 — the fuel for its own dividend, which was raised 7.1% for 2025.

This is news, not investment advice.