Five Ways to Invest in Colombia: The Largest U.S. Trading Partner

With the Bush Administration moving forward to sign a trade agreement with Colombia, there may be investment opportunities in that country.

Some facts about Colombia:

The U.S. has been Colombia’s largest trading partner.

Colombia’s exports to the U.S. are approximately $5.4 billion.

Colombia imports from the U.S. are approximately $3.3 billion.

It is the fifth largest destination of foreign direct investment in Latin America.

Its products and services include oil, coffee, apparel, flowers, mining, energy, automotive, infrastructure, pharmaceutical, consumer products and financial services.

It has the second largest population in South America.

It is the largest Spanish speaking nation by population in South America.

The Happy Planet Index ranked Colombia the second happiest country.

Inflation has been below 6% for the last three years.

Cruise ships will begin returning to the country in October 2007.

It is number 27 of all countries for GDP purchasing power parity.

It produces almost twice as much oil as it consumes.

Below is a list of some stocks from the country of Colombia:

Colombia Goldfields Limited (CGDF.OB), through its Colombian subsidiaries Cia Minera de Caldas S.A. and Gavilan Minerales S.A., is developing gold mining properties in Colombia's Marmato Mountain gold district. Its offices are in Medellin, Colombia, and Toronto, Canada. The company has reported no revenues, and has negative earnings.

Bancolombia S.A. (CIB), is a banking company with over 700 branches in Colombia. It has a P/E of 16.4, a PEG of 1.58, and a yield of 2.9%.

Corporacion Financiera del Valle SA (CRPFY.PK), is a financial services company which rarely trades in the United States.

Interconexion Electrica Sponsored ADR (IESFY.PK) , is Colombia’s largest power company. The Colombian government is considering selling off its 56% ownership in the company. The shares are up 8.6% over the last 12 months.

SPDR S&P Emerging Latin America (GML), is an exchange-traded fund which has the goal of tracking the S&P/Citigroup BMI Latin America index, by investing in stocks from Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. This ETF is up over 28% since its inception in March of this year.

Disclosure: The author does not own any of the above.