Sheikhing from Doha to Rio

19 October 2010 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

First China s Agbank, now Santander Brasil. The sovereign fund is ploughing $2.7 bln into Latam to beef up its portfolio of bank investments. It s classic Qatar: opportunistic and deftly structured. But this may not be quite as successful as moves into Credit Suisse and Barclays.

This content is for Subscribers only

Context News

The Qatar Investment Authority on Oct. 18 announced it had bought a $2.7 billion convertible stake in Banco Santander Brasil.

Qatar Holding has bought mandatory convertible bonds that will exchange into existing or new shares in Santander Brasil by 2014. Upon conversion, Qatar will hold a 5 percent stake in the bank. The bonds have a 6.75 percent coupon and will convert into shares at a price of 23.75 Brazilian reais, a 5 percent discount to the closing price of Oct. 15.

The deal will help Santander Brasil honour the commitment, made in its September 2009 initial public offering, to increase the proportion of its shares that are freely traded to 25 percent by 2014. When Qatar exercises its convertibles, the free float will rise to 22.5 percent, from 17.5 percent today, according to KBW.

Email a friend

Please complete the form below.

Required fields *