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https://scmp.com/business/companies/article/2134949/fosun-resumes-its-overseas-shopping-spree-us52m-purchase-brazil
Business/ Companies

Fosun resumes its overseas shopping spree with US$52m purchase of Brazil asset manager

Brazilian commercial bank Banco Indusval will retain up to a 20 per cent stake in Guide Investimentos

Tuesday’s deal is the second acquisition of a Brazilian financial institution by Fosun. It bought fund manager Rio Bravo Investimentos in 2016. Photo: AFP

Chinese insurance and investment conglomerate Fosun International snapped up Brazilian asset manager Guide Investimentos for US$52 million on Tuesday, five days after it announced the acquisition of French luxury brand Lanvin.

“Fosun will pay 170 million Brazilian reals [US$52 million] for the acquisition, and an additional 120 million reals [US$37 million] depending on the company’s future performance,” the company said in a press release. Fosun did not disclose the details of the stake it has acquired, when contacted by the South China Morning Post.

Guide Investimentos, a Sao Paulo-based financial services company, serves more than 50,000 individual and institutional investors, according to the press release. It is a subsidiary of Banco Indusval, a Brazilian commercial bank, which will retain up to a 20 per cent stake in the company.

“Fosun is regaining pace – it seems like a signal that political pressure is easing for the company,” said

Shaun Rein, the managing director of Shanghai-based market intelligence company China Market Research and author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order.

“Brazil is attractive given its market size and population. The asset prices are also attractive there, compared with those in Southeast Asia, which gained a lot of investment from China last year,” he said.

Tuesday’s deal is the second acquisition of a Brazilian financial institution by Fosun. In July 2016, the group bought Brazilian fund manager Rio Bravo Investimentos, its first acquisition in Latin America.

“The acquisition is consistent with Fosun’s strategy of investing and building operations in emerging countries, particularly in Latin America … Guide’s strategic focus on technology and innovation in distribution of financial [services] will be coupled with Fosun’s strategy of combining China’s growth momentum with global resources,” the company said.

Fosun will invest about US$123 million in Lanvin after it acquired the French luxury brand last week. Photo: AFP
Fosun will invest about US$123 million in Lanvin after it acquired the French luxury brand last week. Photo: AFP

Fosun announced on Thursday it had acquired a controlling stake in the 129-year-old French fashion house Lanvin, without disclosing the financial details of the deal. Reuters reported that Fosun would invest about 100 million (US$123 million) in the business.

Founded by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang in 1992, Fosun pursued aggressive overseas expansion starting in 2010 and now owns Portugal’s largest insurance group, Fidelidade, French luxury resort operator Club Med, a 9.5 per cent stake in jewellery and fashion accessories brand Folli Follie and a minority stake in entertainment company Cirque du Soleil.

Fosun is regaining pace – it seems like a signal that political pressure is easing for the company Shaun Rein, managing director, China Market Research

But its overseas investment slowed down last year, after the company found itself under the regulatory spotlight along with Dalian Wanda Group, Anbang Insurance Group and HNA Group. Aggressive offshore mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies have raised concern in Beijing over capital outflows and financial risks taken on by Chinese banks.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong-listed China Merchants Port announced on Monday it had completed a deal to acquire 90 per cent of the issued share capital of Paranagua Container Terminal, Brazil’s second-largest container terminal, for HK$7.2 billion (US$919.97 million).