The Swiss wealth manager reportedly wants to snap up $218 billion in Brazilian assets. The move, currently fraught with political risk, is a bid to further expand in Latin America's largest wealth market.
Zurich-based UBS is in the running to buy a controlling share of BB DTVM, an 1.2 trillion Brazilian reais ($218 billion) asset manager based in Sao Paolo, «Bloomberg» reported on Tuesday. The talks are preliminary and complicated by Banco do Brasil SA, BB DTVM's owner, currently replacing its CEO, the outlet reported based on sources familiar with the process.
The move would represent a quantum leap for UBS in Brazil, which remains the largest Latin American market for wealth and asset management. The Swiss bank has been looking to ramp back up in Brazil, where it was forced into selling Banco Pactual in the midst of the 2008/09 financial crisis. UBS snapped up Link Investimentos in 2013 and then Consenso four years later.
U.S. asset managers Franklin Templeton and Blackrock are also vying to acquire BB DTVM, the outlet reported. The sale process is fraught with political uncertainty: it is unclear whether state-backed Banco do Brasil's next CEO will be as motivated to pursue a sale of the asset manager as its recent one was until he quit recently following clashes with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
