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Curacao deal shows promise of budding Latino market in L.A.


The decision by Citigroup Inc. to take a stake in the department store chain La Curacao underscores the eagerness with which large banks want to extend credit to undocumented and un-banked Hispanics.

La Curacao's flagship sits on Olympic Boulevard Olympic Boulevard may mean:
  • Olympic Boulevard (Los Angeles) a major arterial in Los Angeles.
  • Olympic Boulevard (Melbourne) an inner city road in Melbourne, formerly a part of Swan Street.
, just outside of downtown L.A. Through its six locations, the chain sells electronics and furniture to Spanish-speaking customers and offers credit cards, long distance telephone and Internet Internet

Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the
 services.

Citigroup's venture capital division took a 10.5 percent stake in La Curacao for an undisclosed sum. Estimates put La Curacao's annual revenues at about $250 million.

"Citigroup is interested in the Hispanic Hispanic Multiculture A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race Social medicine Any of 17 major Latino subcultures, concentrated in California, Texas, Chicago, Miam, NY, and elsewhere  population and how we are tackling it," said Mauricio Fux, senior vice president of La Curacao. "They're interested in both aspects of our company, the retail as well as the financial side." (Citigroup venture unit official declined comment.

The retail chain is willing to extend credit cards to immigrants with no credit history and limited documentation. Its financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
 division has issued more than 1 million credit accounts and charges a 23.99 percent interest rate. That's a bit higher than the typical department store credit card, but can lay the foundation of a credit history that could lead to approval for auto or home loans.

The company was founded in 1981 by two Israeli immigrants, Jerry and Ron Azarkman, and is owned by their holding company, Adir International. The company owns the Polio polio: see poliomyelitis.  Campero chicken restaurant chain.

La Curacao also runs a distribution unit where customers in the U.S. can buy merchandise for relatives in Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies.  and La Curacao will deliver it. Fux said most of the revenues come from the retail and credit-card business, which is what interests Citigroup most.
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Title Annotation:Up Front
Comment:Curacao deal shows promise of budding Latino market in L.A.(Up Front)
Author:Potkewitz, Hilary
Publication:Los Angeles Business Journal
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Aug 22, 2005
Words:285
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