In a move to enhance its Brazilian investments, the UK’s third largest bank, Barclays Bank, through its Securities arm, Barclays Capital, announced that it has contracted Ana Cabral-Gardner to help in expansion of its Brazilian investment banking business. The Brazilian banking industry is expected this year to have more mergers and acquisitions ever since the year 2007.  

 

The contract will see Cabral-Gardner deliver the bank’s investment banking products and services to retail, consumer and healthcare industries customers, a statement from the bank read. Cabral-Gardner joins Barclays Brazil from Goldman Sachs Group and Credit Suisse in Brazil where she formerly served them in the same capacity. Cabral-Gardner will be headquartered in Sao Paolo and will be under the headship of Alceu Lima Neto, the Brazilian head of investment Banking and Banco Barclays president.

 

The Barclays bank’s Brazil operations doubled its headcount from around 60 in 2008 to the current around 150, and additionally wooed bankers from other firms to join its ranks and subsequently enabled it diverse into equity underwriting, mergers and acquisitions advisory and corporate finance. These services are at the core of investment banking, enabling Barclays Brazil to render itself as a vigorous participant in fixed income, debt and derivatives markets. The bank co-managed a BNDES $1 billion, 10 year global bond sale.

 

Whereas stock and bond sales have performed unimpressively in 2010, mergers and acquisitions activity has gone up to its highest ever levels in three years. Barclays Capital was in 2009 contracted by controlling shareholders of GVT, a telecoms company, for consultation services on the sale of a 30% stake to France’s Vivendi. Currently, the bank is offering consultation services to other Brazilian companies in cross border mergers and acquisitions investments.

The hiring of Ana Cabral-Gardner is targeted at luring corporate clients to enable the bank expand and increase its investment banking business, and expand the bank’s business beyond fixed income and debt capital markets in Latin America’s biggest economy.

 

In an interview, Gardner said Barclays was committed to Brazil to a point that it’s willing to put its balance sheet to work for companies in the market, and that’s one of the biggest differences and competitive advantages that the bank can offer its clients locally. She further added that, as a global bank, a presence in Brazil is vital as the country’s economy may increase by 7.3% this year, the fastest pace in more than two decades, according to the country’s quarterly report.

 

2 July 2010.