OREANDA-NEWS. The recently announced acquisition of Marina Capital in Mexico, which is pending regulatory approvals, will not materially affect Banco Interacciones S.A.'s (Interacciones) and Interacciones Casa de Bolsa S.A. de C.V. (ICB) good financial profile and is not expected to have rating implications, according to Fitch Ratings.

On March 23, 2016, Interacciones announced the acquisition and merger of Marina Capital S.A. In Fitch's opinion, the impact of the acquired entity will be small, given that Marina Capital's assets and equity account for only 1.2% and 0.2%, respectively, of Interacciones' consolidated figures. The small size of the acquired entity and the terms of the acquisition, in Fitch's view, explains why there will be no material impact on the ratings from the announced transaction.

This transaction will be fully paid in cash by the bank and the agency does not expect any potential impact on profitability or liquidity given Interacciones's comfortable financial profile. Moreover, this transaction will not generate material intangibles, so capital metrics will not be materially affected.

From the strategic point of view, this acquisition, when completed, will complement Interacciones' treasury operations. The acquisition of Marina Capital will give the bank and its affiliated broker/dealer the ability to settle transactions abroad through correspondent accounts. However, it is not expected to materially improve the franchise of Interacciones, while the contributions of this entity to the overall business and risk diversification will likely be minor.

Fitch currently rates Interacciones as follows:

--Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'BB+';
--Short-term IDR 'B';
--Viability Rating (VR) 'bb+';
--Long-term National Scale ratings 'A+(mex)';
--Short-term National Scale ratings 'F1(mex)'.

The Rating Outlook is Stable.