Colombia's Ecopetrol sells shares for $2.8 bln
BOGOTA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Colombia's state oil company, Ecopetrol, privatized 10.1 percent of itself by selling $2.8 billion of stock to Colombian investors, according to final figures announced by the firm on Thursday.
It was the biggest transaction in the history of this Andean country, which is trying to bolster its oil industry, and the first time that Ecopetrol has opened itself to private investment.
The company received offers totaling $3.5 billion, an Ecopetrol spokeswoman said.
Most of the 480,000 buyers were retail investors, while 37 percent of the shares went to pension funds.
International investors will be allowed to buy Ecopetrol shares later this year when when they are expected to be listed on Colombia's bourse.
Ecopetrol says all proceeds from the deal will be invested in itself as the company tries to revitalize Colombia's oil sector, which has been stunted by a four-decade-old guerrilla war in which leftist rebels often bomb pipelines.
The company operates 104 oil and gas fields throughout the country.
President Alvaro Uribe has spurred economic growth with his U.S.-backed crackdown on the rebels. His security policies have reduced crime, especially in urban areas, but the guerrillas still control wide swathes of countryside. (Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John Wallace)
