Peruvian Tycoon Hit With Wave of Shop Closures in Wealthy Lima Area

(Bloomberg) — An upscale municipality in the Peruvian capital of Lima has temporarily closed a dozen commercial spaces controlled by one of the country’s largest conglomerates, sparking an unlikely fight between the company and a local mayor.

Conglomerate Intercorp said about 15 stores in the seaside neighborhood of Miraflores experienced “irregular closures” starting last week, affecting bank branches, retail stores, restaurants and movie theaters.

Intercorp is headed by billionaire Carlos Rodríguez-Pastor, a low-profile tycoon who owns Peru’s third-largest bank, Interbank, through Intercorp Financial Services Inc, as well as shopping malls and several specialty commercial chains through Inretail Peru Corp.

Miraflores, headed by conservative Mayor Carlos Canales, said the closures were triggered by “critical” safety issues and that inspections were random.

Although Lima’s more than 40 municipalities have the authority to close stores for local law violations, the scope of the current closures targeting a single business owner is unusual.

“These sanctions have no technical or legal basis,” Intercorp said in a statement. The company added that the closures occurred “by chance” amid a “contractual dispute” involving the council canceling a real estate deal with Intercorp subsidiaries (connected to a municipally owned sports complex).

“We were surprised by the swiftness and coordination of municipal officials in closing 15 businesses and focusing on Intercorp companies in such a short period of time,” the company said.

Miraflores said the closures were unrelated to the real estate dispute and instead found “critical problems” at some of Intercorp’s facilities, including undeclared gas cylinders. The municipality also cited the fatal 2025 roof collapse of a shopping mall owned by one of Intercorp’s subsidiaries in Trujillo, Peru, arguing that the incident had led to greater efforts on safety and prevention.

It’s unclear how many of the closures were ongoing as of Monday, but a cinema chain owned by Intercorp was not selling tickets at its Miraflores unit.

Various business associations in Peru issued a joint statement arguing that closures must be fair, proportionate and comply with reasonable standards.

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