Two banks and a fund in race for CGD Brazil

 In News

Three candidates have made it onto the shortlist for the sale of Caixa Geral de Depósitos’ Brazilian bank Banco Caixa Geral.

Interest from the Banco Luso-Brasileiro from the Amorim group, Banco ABC Brazil and the Artesia fund has been approved by the Council of Ministers in Lisbon and will now go on to the next phase of the competitive tender process in which each party must make a formal binding offer.
“The resolution that selects the potential investors allowed to go through to the next phase of the process of offloading shares that are directly or indirectly held by CGD in the share capital of Banco Caixa Geral – Brazil” states the Council of Ministers in a communiqué.
“The investors selected will be invited to undertake due diligence and proceed in presenting binding proposals for the purchase of shares,” adds the Portuguese government, stating that if concluded successfully the sale would represent “another strategic step in the calendar of commitments tied to the recapitalisation of Caixa Geral de Depósitos by the State.”
In February, Paulo Macedo, CEO of Caixa, revealed that at that time some 115 entities had been interested in the Brazilian operation. In the meantime, the list of candidates in the running now to present concrete proposals has been reduced to three candidates.
One of them, Banco Luso-Brasileiro is 43% held by the Amorim Group and an equal share is held by the Brazilian group Ruas which trades in cars and lorries. The remaining 14% is held by the founder of the bank, the Tavares de Almeida group.
Last year the Banco Luso-Brasileiro saw net profits of €5,3 million. Also in the race is the Banco ABC Brasil in which the controlling share is held by the Arab group Bank ABC (60%), and which enjoyed a profit of €100 million in 2018.
There is also another sale underway: Banco Comercial do Atlântico. Caixa has a 59% share in this bank. One interested party in buying CGD’s share of the Cape Verde bank is the Arab group IIB Holdings which bought the Banco Efisa in Portugal for €27 million.