(Bloomberg) — An upscale municipality in Peru’s capital Lima temporarily shuttered over a dozen commercial spaces controlled by one of the country’s top conglomerates, igniting an unlikely battle between the company and a local mayor.
Conglomerate Intercorp said about 15 stores had “suffered irregular shutdowns” starting last week in the seaside neighborhood of Miraflores, affecting bank branches, retail stores, restaurants and movie theaters.
Intercorp is headed by billionaire Carlos Rodríguez-Pastor, a low-profile magnate who owns Peru’s third largest bank, Interbank, through Intercorp Financial Services Inc, as well as malls through Inretail Peru Corp and several privately held commercial chains.
Miraflores, which is headed by conservative Mayor Carlos Canales, said the closures were triggered by “critical” safety problems, adding that inspections are random.
Although Lima’s more than 40 municipalities are authorized to close shops for local code violations, the breadth of the current shutdowns targeting one owner is unusual.
“These sanctions have no technical or legal basis,” Intercorp said in a statement. The company added that the closures took place “coincidentally” amid a “contractual controversy” involving the municipality’s cancellation of a real estate deal — tied to a municipal-owned sports complex — with Intercorp subsidiaries.
“We are surprised by the swiftness and coordination of the municipality’s operatives that shut down 15 spaces in such a short time frame and focused on Intercorp’s companies,” the firm said.
Miraflores said the closures were unrelated to the real estate dispute and that instead it had found “critical problems” at some of Intercorp’s sites, including unreported gas cylinders. The municipality also cited the 2025 fatal roof collapse of a mall owned by one of Intercorp’s subsidiaries in the Peruvian city of Trujillo, suggesting the incident had led them to double down on safety and prevention.
It’s unclear how many of the closures persisted as of Monday, but a movie theater chain owned by Intercorp was not selling tickets at its Miraflores unit.
Several Peruvian business associations issued a joint statement asserting that closures should adhere to fair, proportional and reasonable standards.
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