Brazil Broker Reforms into Boutique

Corretora Planner, a Sao Paulo-based brokerage with a seat at the BM&FBovespa, is applying for a bank license with the central bank and beefing up its local DCM distribution and M&A advisory capabilities. “We want to fill the vacuum left by the larger banks that are leaving the local DCM space,” says Roberto Watanabe, a former Deutsche Bank ABS specialist who joined Planner to head local fixed income distribution. Watanabe says his shop will look to work on various securitization structures, including FIDC, precatorio, and CRI – real estate-backed vehicles – as well as other fixed income structures like domestic bonds. Planner, headed by Mauricio Quadrado and Carlos Arnaldo Borges, is also working on building up local M&A. The banking division, which includes DCM and M&A, has some 10 people. Separately, the company’s brokerage will continue equities trading. Once it has a bank license, the shop may seek to add fixed income trading and treasury, as well as provide underwriting for local DCM, says Watanabe.