(Bloomberg) -- Julius Baer Group Ltd. hired Goldman Sachs to seek buyers for its Brazilian unit, according to people familiar to the matter, a move that could help the Swiss bank right its footing after some high-profile setbacks.
The unit has already been offered to some Brazilian banks and multifamily offices, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. Talks are ongoing and may not end up in a deal, the people said. Goldman Sachs and Julius Baer declined to comment.
Julius Baer has struggled to regain investor confidence after its exposure to Austrian tycoon Rene Benko’s crumbling property empire sent the shares tumbling. The company sold €500 million ($555 million) of new debt in September in its first such deal since former Chief Executive Officer Philipp Rickenbacher left the bank.
Brazilian website Neofeed reported previously on the hiring of Goldman Sachs to try the unit sale, citing people familiar with the matter who said Julius Baer has about 50 billion reais ($8.7 billion) under management in Brazil and that the deal would be worth 800 million to 1.2 billion reais.
Carlos Recoder took over in January as Head Americas & Iberia for Julius Baer and Brazil is part of this division.
Julius Baer opened an office in Brazil in 2005 and after that bought two of the biggest family offices in the nation, GPS and Reliance, merging the firms in February 2020 and creating an entity that today has around 200 employees.
The total local private banking market in Brazil reached 2.2 trillion reais in assets under management at the end of the first half of the year, an 3.8% increase over June 2023, according to Anbima, the capital markets association.
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