Swiss bank strengthens hand in Latin America's wealth market. Serial wealth-business acquirer UBS has struck again. The Swiss megabank plans to pay something like $2.5 billion for Banco Pactual, |image1| a Brazilian investment bank and asset manager.

The move could give UBS a stronger toehold in South America�s private-wealth market, specifically in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, the continent�s biggest economy by far, building on the mostly Spanish-speaking private-banking business it bought from Dresdner Bank about two years ago.

�Brazil has one of the world�s fastest growing financial markets and therefore is a key focus area for [us]� UBS CEO Peter Wuffli says in a press release. Wuffli called the acquisition �an efficient combination between the leading independent investment bank in Brazil and UBS.�

Goldman Sachs reckons that together the economies of Brazil, India, Russia and China will surpass the collective material output of the G7 by 2040.

Pactual�s businesses will be integrated into UBS� investment banking, wealth- and asset-management divisions. These businesses include a range of investment banking services that center mostly around the Brazilian markets.

Andre Esteves, Pactual�s managing partner, says �we are confident that the combination of a first class global bank with our leading position in Brazil�s financial industry will create an even more powerful investment bank in the Latin America region.�

Pactual Asset Management had $18.6 billion in assets under management at the end of March 2006. Pactual Wealth Management had $4.6 billion. �FWR

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