Brazil’s BTG to raise $400 million to challenge rival XP

By Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual plans to raise roughly 2 billion reais ($376.61 million) through a share offering to boost its digital retail banking, according to a securities filing on Monday.

The bank said it aims to sell 28.5 million new units, comprising one common share and two preferred shares. Including overallotments, the offering may reach 35.6 million units.

The proceeds will be used to expand its newly-launched digital consumer banking platform while keeping a high level of capitalization, BTG said.

BTG’s move comes as shares in rival Nasdaq-listed XP Inc have surged nearly 23% this year as the retail digital broker has lured new clients and assets at breakneck speed. Currently, XP’s market capitalization is nearly half of Brazil’s largest lender, Itau Unibanco Holding SA , which is also a shareholder in the broker.

Chief Executive Roberto Sallouti said in May that BTG saw strong business opportunities to complement the retail banking unit, including the acquisition of small competitors.

BTG will set the price per unit on June 26. Units in BTG Pactual ended the trading day on Friday at 72 reais, down 4.6% this year.

BTG, Bradesco BBI SA, Itau BBA SA and Banco Santander Brasil SA will manage the offering.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl, editing by Louise Heavens and Nick Zieminski)