Harriet Davies
Editor - Family Wealth Report
23 May 2012
Daily News Analysis
GPS Investimentos Financeiros e Participacoes, a Brazilian wealth manager which is partly-owned by Switzerland’s Julius Baer Group, is trying to double its assets under management, from a base of BRL11 billion ($5.3 billion), over the next five years, Bloomberg reported.
The Latin American wealth manager will be looking to pick up new clients and investing in its Rio de Janeiro office to attract customers from smaller multi-family office rivals based in the city, a partner at the firm, Geraldo Lamounier, told the publication in an interview in Sao Paulo.
Zurich-listed Julius Baer, which had client assets under management of SFr170.3 billion ($179.5 billion) at the end of last year, bought its 30 per cent stake in GPS in May 2011, as part of plans to make inroads to the local Brazilian market. The purchase gave the Swiss player – which also counts Asia as its “second home market” – locations in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Lima, Montevideo, Caracas, Săo Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with GPS based in these last two.
Citing data from Anbima, the Brazilian capital markets association, the report said Brazil’s private banking industry had seen two years of healthy expansion, growing by 23 per cent last year and 22 per cent in 2010. It is worth some BRL434.4 billion in total assets.
“The valuation of Brazilian assets like real estate properties, commodities prices and the new money that enters the country through equity offerings has created a new bunch of millionaires,” Lamounier is quoted as saying.
