Banco BS2 has decided to spin off its capital markets-related businesses, creating an independent platform that will focus on asset management and debt issuance operations.
The new company, called BBS Capital Partners, begins operations with over R$1.2 billion in assets under management (AuM) in its asset management division, aiming to reach R$5 billion by the end of 2027. In the investment banking (IB) segment, the intention is to end next year with R$2.5 billion in issued debt volume.
The assessment is that, with their own structure, these two areas can accelerate growth and offer better service to the bank's clients, without being subject to the constraints of the commercial bank's activities.
“We felt it was best to move towards creating a separate structure that could accommodate these businesses, to develop these activities in a more fluid way, with specific governance capable of attracting new talent to this unit,” saysMarcos Magalhães , CEO of BS2, to NeoFeed .
The operation, which began to be structured in January, foresees BS2 as the controlling shareholder of BBS, with 40% of the capital. The other 60% will be distributed among BBS executives in a partnership format aimed at ensuring alignment and talent retention.
With the split completed, the new company will be led by Rodrigo Pentagna Guimarães , who will remain as the commercial executive director of BS2, in addition to having a seat on the BBS board, chaired by Magalhães.
The asset management firm – which will be led by Vinícius Bandeira, formerly head of M&A and corporate development at BS2 – will focus on investment strategies in alternative assets, through structured private credit and real estate funds, and judicial assets. The firm already manages Investment Funds in Credit Rights (FIDCs) and real estate investment funds (FIIs) .
The second vertical is IB, launched in February of last year with a focus on debt capital markets (DCM) . The unit was created with the goal of generating R$ 800 million in its first year, but it surpassed that objective, reaching R$ 900 million in structured and distributed debt by 2025.
This part will be the responsibility of Victor Barreira, formerly of RGS Partners and Banco Modal . He took over from Márcio Paiva, who was reassigned to a role originating capital solutions opportunities, fostering structured operations that may be a good fit for both of BBS's verticals.
According to Magalhães, the decision to separate IB is intended to allow the area to pursue more mandates, since BBS and its executives can participate in the risk management and operations are not tied to the bank's decision-making processes.
“A structured operation takes longer to put together; it’s almost a business plan for each operation. A credit operation, on the other hand, given the balance sheet and the timeframe, can be discussed in a day. Putting such an operation before the credit committee, which is discussing standardized operations, creates a disruption in the agenda,” he states.
A new area, which will be part of the capital markets vertical, is the capital solutions unit for public entities, headed by Marcelo Fanganiello, who spent more than ten years at Itaú and was CEO of Indigo Investimentos.
With a current team of over 20 professionals, the intention is for BBS to bring new investment opportunities and offer tailor-made credit services to an audience of 1,500 companies served by the bank, with annual revenues exceeding R$ 100 million. This audience is already served by BS2's basic banking products and is currently being contested by large and medium-sized banks, as well as asset managers and boutiques.
In addition to complementing new investment opportunities for BS2, BBS also aims to attract institutional investors and asset managers to participate in the portfolio's investment theses.
“The contribution of value to the companies is very synergistic, because BBS will seek investment opportunities and BS2 will provide the allocation capacity, allowing the bank to grow its portfolio in terms of credit assets inorganically, co-investing in opportunities originated by BBS,” says Pentagna Guimarães.
Opportunities
With the goal of reaching R$ 5 billion in AuM by the end of next year, BBS sees good opportunities in real estate, an area in which the bank already operates more intensively, mainly with financing for the production of real estate developers.
Now at BBS, the area will evaluate primary investments in real estate structures, holding equity. "In the real estate arm, we plan to build a portfolio of at least R$1 billion in the next 18 months, entering the equity of developments, mainly residential, but also open to commercial and corporate office spaces," says Bandeira, head of BBS's asset management division.
In private credit , as in the market in general, the opportunity lies in FIDCs (Investment Funds in Credit Rights), leveraging BS2's expertise in credit, as well as funds focused on infrastructure.
Pentagna Guimarães also states that the asset manager wants to enter the private payroll loan market, focusing on the needs of the bank's clients. "Our idea is to structure a private payroll loan fund, something that has a lot of synergy with the bank's client ecosystem," he says.
The management company also analyzes specific investment theses, such as consortiums, credit for condominiums, industry, and agribusiness. "We have plans to launch FoFs of FIDCs (Funds of Funds) to gain scale by investing in other institutions," says Bandeira.
In the area of capital solutions for public entities, the main opportunity lies in the securitization of active debt, especially that of municipalities. This activity gained momentum after the approval of Complementary Law 208 in 2024, which regulated the assignment of credit rights originating from tax and non-tax credits by the Federal Government.
A survey released in 2024 by the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM) indicates that the amount of negotiable public debt, in the accumulated period from 2014 to 2023, reached approximately R$ 3.2 trillion.
“In addition to providing a financial solution for this entity, we will bring the expertise and know-how of managing the debt collection portfolio, so that it can have greater efficiency and take advantage of recovering its credits,” says Pentagna Guimarães.
