While the exit of Odebrecth has caused pain here in Panama, life will go on and things will get done, albeit later than anticipated.

Reports state that the swiss UBS and Mexico’s Inbursa are the banks that could lead the new financing structure for finishing construction of Line 2, which is currently 33% complete.

Following the departure of the group of banks led by Citibank, the construction consortium FCC and Brazil’s Odebrecht have informed the Secretariat of the Panama Metro that negotiations have now been finalised with two banks to secure financing to complete the work.

Prensa.com reports that “…The news appears in a note sent by the executive director of the consortium Linea 2, Marcos Tepedino, to the director and chairman of the board of Metro de Panama, S.A., Roberto Roy.”

However “…In the note the name of the banks that are responsible for this financing are not indicated. After being consulted, Roy confirmed he had received the letter, but said he had not been informed who is the bank or banks. ‘The fact is that the funding is a an issue 100% to do with the consortium and so far the work is going well, with progress made of 33%’. This newspaper has learned that it could be the Swiss bank UBS and Mexico ‘s Inbursa, owned by the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, the main shareholder of FCC Construction.”

Source: Prensa.com