BTG, Santander Said in Talks to Buy Julius Baer Brazil Unit

(Bloomberg) — Banco BTG Pactual SA and Banco Santander Brasil SA are among firms in talks to acquire Julius Baer Group Ltd.’s Brazil unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

XP Inc., the biggest brokerage in Brazil, and Banco Safra SA are also at the negotiating table, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The price for the unit, which has 70 billion reais ($11.1 billion) in assets under management and under custody, could reach about 1 billion reais ($160 million), the people said.

Instead of a total sale, Julius Baer may agree to a joint venture with one of the banks, the people said, adding that the goal is to reach a deal as soon as January. No agreement has been reached and the talks could still fall apart.

Among the other big banks doing business in the country, Banco Bradesco SA, Itau Unibanco Holding SA and UBS Group AG aren’t involved in the talks, the people said.

Julius Baer opened an office in Brazil in 2005 and after that bought two of the biggest family offices in the nation, GPS and Reliance, merging the firms in February 2020 and creating an entity that now has around 300 employees.

BTG has a multifamily office business with more than 40 billion reais in assets under management, and Julius Baer’s business could be combined with this strategy, depending on the price, the people said. Safra, Santander and XP are also investing in wealth and asset management, the people said.

Goldman’s Role

Carlos Recoder, who took over in January as head of the Americas and Iberia for Julius Baer, has been in Brazil recently talking to clients after details about the sales talks were reported in the media, the people said. 

Representatives at all the banks declined to comment.

Julius Baer hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to seek buyers for its Brazilian unit, people familiar with the matter said last month, a move that could help the Swiss bank right its footing after some high-profile setbacks.

The company initially struggled to regain investor confidence after its exposure to Austrian tycoon Rene Benko’s crumbling property empire sent the shares tumbling. The stock has since been gaining ground and is up 22% this year, compared with a 2.3% increase for the Swiss Market Index.

The company sold €500 million ($520 million) of new debt in September in its first euro bond sold to international investors since former Chief Executive Officer Philipp Rickenbacher left the bank.

(Updates with description of bond sale in 12th paragraph, adds share performance in 11th.)

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