Grupo Cibest, the holding company that controls Bancolombia and Nequi, said it had closed the purchase of 100% of the shares of Avista Colombia, a fintech that makes payroll-deduction loans, known in Colombia as libranzas. The transaction was completed on Monday 3 August 2026, after the conditions for the deal were verified, and was announced the following day.
The parties did not disclose the price or other financial terms.
Avista becomes part of the group but will stay independent. It keeps its brand, its business strategy and its focus on libranza loans and other financial products tied to salaries and pensions, and its customers will be served as before.
What Avista built
Avista lends to what Colombian media call the silver economy: pensioners and salaried workers over 50. Libranza loans are repaid by deduction directly from a borrower's payroll or pension, which lowers the risk of missed payments. Avista set out to make the product fully digital and to reach borrowers of all income levels, including in rural areas, using data analysis to assess applications and pay out loans quickly.
In seven years of operation, the company has served more than 146,000 Colombians. It has disbursed about COP 2.9 trillion (roughly $900 million) and had a loan book of COP 1.5 trillion (about $470 million) as of June 2026. It operates in 1,007 municipalities across all 32 of Colombia's departments, and said its growth has been strongest in small and mid-sized cities where banks have few branches.
Avista has been named one of the 50 most inclusive fintechs in the world and one of the 100 Colombian startups with the most potential. It is a certified B Corp, has signed the UN Global Compact and holds ratings from Fitch and BRC Ratings. Last year it completed its first securitisation on the Colombian stock exchange.
The founders and the funding
Martín Restrepo and Gabriel Seinjet founded Avista in Bogotá in February 2019. The two met in 2013 while studying at Babson College and worked briefly in investment banking in New York before returning to Colombia to start the company.
According to Portafolio, Avista raised more than $250 million in combined debt and equity financing, with backing from Accial and Ninety One. The paper reported that in its first two years the company grew its disbursements by 350%, reaching COP 500 billion (about $157 million) and 25,000 customers with an average age of about 63.
Why Grupo Cibest is buying
Grupo Cibest is the holding company of the Bancolombia group, whose businesses include Bancolombia, Nequi, Wompi, Wenia, Banco Agrícola and BAM. It serves 32.7 million customers and has about 34,000 employees in the region. It is listed on the Colombian stock exchange and has ADRs traded in New York.
Juan Carlos Mora, Grupo Cibest's chief executive, said the acquisition would expand the group's offer of inclusive financing for older Colombians and strengthen its ties with customers in every part of the country. The group said Avista would gain access to more capital, cheaper funding and stronger risk management and internal controls.
The purchase follows Grupo Cibest's sale of Banistmo in Panama, which closed in June 2026 for $1.428 billion, according to Ecosistema Startup.
What changes for borrowers
Restrepo has said that the experience of taking out a libranza loan had barely changed since the product appeared in Colombia about 50 years ago, and that banks had left the older-borrower segment underserved. Avista built its model on a fully digital process aimed at that gap. Seinjet described the segment as an opportunity for social impact.
For now, little changes for Avista's customers. Grupo Cibest said they will continue to be served under the same brand and with the same commercial strategy, while Avista uses the group's balance sheet to grow its payroll lending. The group did not say whether Avista's products will be offered through Bancolombia or Nequi.
Peso amounts in this article were converted at about 3,180 Colombian pesos to the dollar, the rate shown by Portafolio, and are approximate.
