UBS Buys Back Into Brazil

Almost a year to the day after UBS announced it was exiting Brazil through the sale of Pactual, the Swiss bank has unveiled an agreement to acquire Brazilian brokerage Link Investimentos for BRL195m. A purchase had been expected, since acquisition is understood to be the fastest route to acquiring a license, a process that is apparently fraught with red tape. And UBS is heard very keen to re-establish a Brazil base as it works to reconstruct a LatAm platform that was cut to shreds during the financial crisis. “We view Brazil as a strategically important market with significant growth potential,” says Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, co-CEO of UBS Investment Bank. “The acquisition of Link Investimentos provides a platform for UBS to re-build our presence and expand our footprint in Brazil,” he adds. Link is a private partnership with 279 staff, including 73 partners, and offices in Sao Paulo and Curitiba. UBS agreed to acquire 100% of the shares of Link Holding Financeira, the parent holding all shares of the licensed operating company Link Investimento. Its businesses will be integrated into the investment bank, wealth management, and asset management divisions of UBS and the combined entity in Brazil will be re-branded as UBS. UBS will not acquire Link’s retail online brokerage business. Link was founded in 1998 as an independent broker-dealer, and offers equities, equity research and equity derivatives, as well as exchange traded FX, fixed income and commodity products. The acquisition is expected to close during Q4 2010, subject to central bank approval. In April 2009, UBS announced the sale of Pactual for $2.5bn to BTG. In Q4 last year, the Swiss bank started to rebuild LatAm with a string of senior appointments and new hires.