Fictor-led consortium agrees to buy distressed Brazilian lender Master

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By Luciana Magalhaes and Marcela Ayres A consortium led by Brazilian investment group Fictor and unnamed investors from the United Arab Emirates agreed to buy embattled Brazilian lender Banco Master, Fictor said in a statement on Monday.THE DETAILS• The deal includes an immediate capital injection of 3 billion reais ($562.48 million), the establishment of a new board of directors, and the change of the name to Banco Fictor.• The deal was submitted for central bank approval on late Monday, Fictor said; it also needs greenlight from antitrust regulator CADE.• The consortium is purchasing the entire stake held by controlling shareholder Daniel Vorcaro in Master.• The agreement does not include Master-controlled Will Bank and Banco Master de Investimentos, which are being sold separately.• Master declined to comment.CONTEXT• The announcement follows a failed bid by state-run lender BRB (BRLI3.SA) to acquire the distressed bank, which was rejected by the central bank in September.• Vorcaro has been selling assets in an effort to shore up Master's liquidity and prevent the need for intervention by Brazil's central bank.• Master's funding has largely stemmed from high-yield debt distributed via investment platforms.• Those securities, covered by Brazil's deposit insurance fund in the event of a bank failure, were key to Master's rapid expansion in recent years, putting it under increased scrutiny.• Now facing liquidity problems, it needed fresh capital to meet upcoming maturities.KEY QUOTES• "BRB is a public bank. Now we're talking about full private capital, with a different strategy and profile," Rafael Paixao, a partner at Fictor, told Reuters.• Will Bank and Banco Master de Investimentos are also being sold by Master, but to other buyers, Paixao and his partners Rafael Goes and Felipe Rubini said in an interview.• They said the three deals are separate, but they likely depend on each other to be completed.THE BUYERS• Fictor has interests in the food, financial and infrastructure industries, including Sao Paulo-traded food producer Fictor Alimentos BMFBOVESPA:FICT3.• The UAE investors in the deal will be announced on Friday, partners at Fictor told Reuters in an interview. • Fictor said the deal would allow it to enter the banking sector as a "strategic step" to strengthen its financial services platform.• The unnamed UAE investors in the consortium might be ...

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