The largest private sector bank in Brazil, Itau Unibanco Holding SA, had entered into an agreement to purchase insurance firm BMG Seguradora SA for the price of 85 million reais or US$39 million.
The purchase by Itau Unibanco represents a 99.99% share over the insurance company. The said purchase would be facilitated through a unit that controls the shareholdings of a joint venture with Banco BMG SA. Banco BMG was the former majority stockholder for BMG Seguradora, according documents filed with the state regulatory agency.
With the sale, BMG Seguradora reaped 62.6 million reais in premiums underwritten in 2012 and on top of that, earned 42.4 million reais in the first half of the current year. The filed documents also said that Itau has been expaning its insurance, investment banking and credit card businesses as part of an overall strategy to diversify its sources of revenue from lending transactions, where current costs are on the decline on top of a weaker economy as well as increased state intervention in the banking industry.
Join the Conversation