LONDON (AFX) - Unibanco-Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros SA would be a better acquisition target for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA than for JP Morgan Chase & Co, ING Financial Markets said.
William Harrison, JP Morgan's chairman and chief executive officer, said on Wednesday that his bank was interested in either forming a joint venture, taking a minority stake or take control of a Brazilian retail bank.
Harrison told Brazilian financial daily Valor Economico that it would not make sense for his bank to start opening branches and try to grow organically in Brazil.
Many analysts tend to agree that Unibanco would be the most likely target for JP Morgan, although ING's Pedro Guimaraes disagrees.
Unibanco is small-scale compared with Banco Bradesco SA and Banco Itau Holding Financeira SA, and it is even smaller than ABN Amro and Banco Santander Central Hispano SA's Brazilian operations.
"We believe Unibanco could be an option for BBVA as it would then have the same scale as Santander in Brazil and it would keep its more than double scale in Mexico.
"BBVA would be the second largest franchise in Latam, behind only Banco do Brasil," Guimaraes noted.
BBVA sold its Brazilian insurance and financial operations to Bradesco in 2003.
At 10.55 am in New York, Unibanco's ADRs were down 1.45 pct at 38.06 usd, while the Bank of New York Latin American ADR index was up 0.22 pct.
Unibanco's stock is today under pressure following the announcement by Portugal's Caixa Geral de Depositos SA that it will sell its 12.3 pct stake in the Brazilian bank through a global offering of share units and global depositary shares.
jean-marc.poilpre@afxnews.com
jmp/vs
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William Harrison, JP Morgan's chairman and chief executive officer, said on Wednesday that his bank was interested in either forming a joint venture, taking a minority stake or take control of a Brazilian retail bank.
Harrison told Brazilian financial daily Valor Economico that it would not make sense for his bank to start opening branches and try to grow organically in Brazil.
Many analysts tend to agree that Unibanco would be the most likely target for JP Morgan, although ING's Pedro Guimaraes disagrees.
Unibanco is small-scale compared with Banco Bradesco SA and Banco Itau Holding Financeira SA, and it is even smaller than ABN Amro and Banco Santander Central Hispano SA's Brazilian operations.
"We believe Unibanco could be an option for BBVA as it would then have the same scale as Santander in Brazil and it would keep its more than double scale in Mexico.
"BBVA would be the second largest franchise in Latam, behind only Banco do Brasil," Guimaraes noted.
BBVA sold its Brazilian insurance and financial operations to Bradesco in 2003.
At 10.55 am in New York, Unibanco's ADRs were down 1.45 pct at 38.06 usd, while the Bank of New York Latin American ADR index was up 0.22 pct.
Unibanco's stock is today under pressure following the announcement by Portugal's Caixa Geral de Depositos SA that it will sell its 12.3 pct stake in the Brazilian bank through a global offering of share units and global depositary shares.
jean-marc.poilpre@afxnews.com
jmp/vs
COPYRIGHT
Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
AFX News and the AFX Financial News logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com