NEGOFIN S.A.E.C.A.

What it is

Negofin’s core business is buying and managing third-party credit portfolios — it acquires overdue loans from micro-lenders, then works to collect them efficiently while protecting its own assets and optimising the risk-return balance. The model resembles a second-floor bank: Negofin does not lend directly to consumers but instead buys and administers the credit portfolios placed by its franchise brands.

The company operates under five brands — the largest being Credi Ágil and Credi Market — through 17 franchises with 85 branches and two exclusively digital channels. As of mid-2024, Negofin administered a portfolio of more than Gs.

940,000 million (~USD 155.4 m) and served more than 162,000 clients.

Who owns it

In August 2024 the company disclosed a material ownership change: the shareholders of BEEME S.A. sold 100% of that holding company to entrepreneurs María Sarah Cartes Jara (79% of BEEME) and Juan Carlos López Moreira (21% of BEEME), with BEEME holding 70% of Negofin’s ordinary voting shares. The remaining 30% of ordinary shares stays with Gustavo Borgognon, founder of Negofin, who also remains on the board as president.

The other 30% voting block in Negofin — held through Algodón Negro S.A. — is controlled by Gustavo Borgognon Montero (50%) and Selene Rojas. Beyond ordinary shares, preferred (non-voting) shares make up 65% of all subscribed capital and are widely distributed among retail and institutional investors on the exchange.

Who runs it

Gustavo Luis Borgognon Montero founded Negofin in February 2004, initially operating it under his own name before incorporating the business. He chairs the board today; his brother, Eduardo Borgognon Montero, serves as vice-president of the board and is also president of the Bolsa de Valores de Asunción.

Day-to-day operations are led by Gerente General (CEO equivalent) Widilfo Escobar Cikel, with Omar Gustavo Giménez Pereira as Gerente Financiero (CFO equivalent) and Graciela Mabel Núñez López as administrative manager — all named in the company’s own prospectus filed with the BVA.

The money, in plain words

In the last publicly available audited year (FY 2022), revenues grew 27.9% to Gs. 400,822 million (~USD 66.2 m), and the operating profit line rose 45.4%.

Net profit for that year reached Gs. 52,828 million (~USD 8.7 m), a rise of 16.3%, pushing return on equity to 31.2% — strong for Paraguay’s credit sector.

Keeping about 13 cents of profit from every guaraní of revenue — a net margin of ~13.2% (our calculation) — shows a lean collector’s economics: thin staff overhead, high portfolio turnover. The authorised capital stands at Gs.

250,000,000,000 (~USD 41.3 m); subscribed and paid-in capital at Gs. 143,343,000,000 (~USD 23.7 m), with the gap available for fresh equity raises.

What it is doing now

In April 2025 Negofin launched a new tranche of preferred shares (Class P) at a fixed annual dividend of 11.5%, placed publicly on the BVA. Then, in April 2026, the board approved a further Class Q preferred-share issue of Gs.

58,000 million (~USD 9.6 m), carrying a 13.8% annual dividend through 2028, to expand and strengthen the company’s equity base.

The stated purpose of both raises is to fund growth and improve financial efficiency. The successive equity rounds — at progressively higher coupon rates — suggest Negofin is competing hard for retail savers’ money at a time when Paraguay’s overall interest-rate environment is elevated.

What to watch

• Audited 2023–2024 financials: The most recent publicly verified revenue and profit figures date to FY 2022; the next cycle of filings with the Superintendencia de Valores will be the first test of how the portfolio held up after the 2024 ownership change.
• New-ownership execution: Sarah Cartes and Juan Carlos López Moreira acquired the majority stake as individuals independent of other businesses, and the market will watch whether their promised growth agenda materialises in the numbers.
• Credit-quality pressure: Overdue loans jumped 44.7% in 2022 and provisions rose 80.8%; any deterioration in micro-borrower repayments would squeeze margins quickly given Negofin’s concentrated exposure to that segment.
• Preferred-share obligations: With Class P and Class Q shares carrying fixed dividends of 11.5%–13.8%, any year in which profit falls short triggers an obligation to accumulate the shortfall for the following year — a structural cost to monitor.

This is news, not investment advice.