by Charles W. Thurston
Latin America Correspondent
thurstoncw@rodmanmedia.com
Colombia’s Grupo Orbis has be- gun the development of a do- mestic chain of Do-it-Yourself
stores named Master Pro that will feature subsidiary Pintuco’s full line of
paints and coatings. The independent
Pintucasa paint store network will continue to be expanded, as well, with a
Pintucasa section planned inside each
Master Pro store.
The Master Pro venture will be
headed up by new Orbis president
Rodolfo Bayona Plata, who took office
in September. Within his academic background, Bayona attended the University
of Pennsylvania and earned his MBA
at Northwood University. He also has
worked for Dow Chemical.
Orbis estimates that the hardware
store market is worth 26 billion pesos, or
about $8.8 million per year, and that 13
percent of DIY products sold nationally
are sold by DIY stores. Orbis has set a
goal of opening 30 stores by 2021. The
first store in the chain was opened early
this year in Bogota, with 1,500 square
meters of floor space and 15,000 SKUs.
More stores will open in Medellín, Cali,
Barranquilla and Bucaramanga.
Among Pintuco paint brands, Viniltex
and Koraza are well known architectural
segment brands. Similarly, the Terinsa
and ICO brands are well known in the
construction industry.
The group is active in over a dozen
countries in Latin America. Last year
Pintuco began distributing AkzoNobel’s
protective coatings under the International
Paints brand in Peru. In Venezuela, Orbis
owns Venezolana de Pinturas. Pintuco is
broadly distributed in Central America
in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua, as
well as in the Caribbean islands of Aruba
under the brand Arvefa, and Curacao,
under the brand AVF.
The current domestic focus of Orbis
is well suited for the economic straits in
Colombia; the peso recently dropped to
a record low of 3,300 to one U.S. dol-
lar. At the same time, inflation is hov-
ering around six percent per year. The
Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) recently
downgraded Colombia’s expected
economic growth prospects, with expec-
tations for Colombia growth now at 2.1
percent in 2016, 2.5 percent in 2017, and
2.9 percent in 2018.
Colombia is broadly expected to continue to grow since President Santos has
managed to reach a delicate peace accord with the revolutionary party FARC.
However, the economic crisis in neighboring Venezuela has become so intense
that the border was closed for 72 hours
by Venezuela to avoid currency movement leading up to the release of new
larger bank notes there.
According to Bloomberg, “Grupo
Orbis S.A. manufactures and supplies
paints and chemical products in Latin
America and internationally. It offers
decorative, construction, industrial,
institutional, and specializes coatings;
and polyester and other chemicals for
use in various products, such as inks,
paintings, textiles, leather, products of
pharmaceutical and personal care, and
human and animal nutrition. The company also provides products and services for water handling, treatment, and
storage, such as fiber reinforced polyester glass, tanks, rehabilitation of pipes,
and project management.” CW
Colombia’s Grupo Orbis Launches Store Network
