RioPrevidência , which is being investigated for investments made in Banco Master, lost money with the Arena fund, intended for investments in government bonds. Of the four Master funds in which the Rio de Janeiro state pension fund invested between 2024 and 2025, this one received the largest volume of contributions.
According to data from Cadprev obtained by NeoFeed via the Access to Information Law, RioPrevidência invested R$ 1.371 billion, divided into 16 contributions. RioPrevidência acted practically as the sole shareholder of the fund until the cancellation of its registration on December 11, 2025, almost a year after the first contribution, made on December 19, 2024.
Until October of last year, the investment had been yielding a negative return of R$ 12.87 million for the institution's main pension plan.
According to NeoFeed 's investigation, the date and value of the contributions coincide with all the fundraisings registered by the fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( CVM ). The exception is a contribution of R$ 100.283 million that RioPrevidência reported making on May 2, 2025.
On that day, no new contributions were registered to the fund, but on April 28 – a day on which RioPrevidência did not register any contributions to the fund – an inflow of R$ 100 million was recorded, R$ 283,000 less than what RioPrevidência reported having invested.
Since inception, the fund has yielded 6.97%, equivalent to 50.50% of the CDI (Brazilian interbank deposit rate) for the period, according to data from Mais Retorno. The fund's accumulated return in 2025 was 9.19%, equivalent to 68.4% of the CDI. Itaú Soberano RF Simples, another fund invested in by RioPrevidência with a similar purpose, yielded 99.45% of the CDI.
Part of the difference in profitability is due to the fact that, although permitted, Arena's management did not hedge the IPCA-indexed positions, absorbing the volatility of the portfolio's NTN-Bs. Until July, 96% of the portfolio consisted of inflation-linked government bonds and 4% in Selic Treasury bonds.
Another determining factor in RioPrevidência losing money in a government bond fund was the costs. Although it had a single investor who, in total contributions, put in more than R$ 1 billion, the fund charged a 0.35% annual management fee and a 0.15% custody fee, which went to the Master. Between December 2024 and July 2025, these expenses totaled R$ 526,000.
But these weren't the only costs of the fund. A management fee of 0.25% per year was also set, plus a 10% performance fee on anything exceeding 10% of the Selic rate, destined for Arena Capital, a Rio de Janeiro-based asset manager that managed the fund. The fund was the largest in Arena Capital's portfolio, which, according to Anbima data, ended 2025 with R$ 678.45 million under management.
As a result, up to July of last year, expenses for management fees totaled R$ 697,000 and for performance fees, R$ 1,271,000 – even with performance falling short of expectations.
Charging performance fees is not common in funds exclusively dedicated to investments in government bonds. Even when a fee is charged, the standard is to use 100% of the CDI (Brazilian interbank deposit rate) as a benchmark, not 10% of the Selic (Brazilian benchmark interest rate). The Itaú Soberano fund, for example, charges only a 0.15% management fee.
According to daily data from the Arena fund, approximately half of the fund's assets were withdrawn in October 2025. The final redemption occurred on December 10th, with a withdrawal of R$ 582.509 million. The fund's closure, according to the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission), was due to a decision by the shareholders.
The investment in the Arena fund had been questioned by the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio de Janeiro. On October 29th, less than two months before the fund's closure, the RioPrevidência Investment Committee recorded in its minutes that, despite the questions, the fund had been "paying a large part of this month's payroll, which has been of great value to RP at this time when royalties have ceased to be fully transferred."
“The Arena fund, for example, is managed by Master and has performed very well,” says the minutes of the Investment Committee, then headed by acting investment director Pedro Pinheiro Guerra Leal. Guerra Leal was dismissed in December – the same month the fund was canceled – for maintaining investments in Master's products.
Contacted for comment, RioPrevidência, Master, and Arena Capital had not responded by the time this report was published.
