Yahoo Finance Marcelo Claure-Backed Fund Seeks Saudi Cash for Brazil Deals
(Bloomberg) -- A Brazilian investment firm backed by billionaire Marcelo Claure is in talks with Saudi investors to launch a $600 million fund as it targets the climate and energy sectors in Brazil.
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EB Capital Gestao de Recursos Ltda plans to launch the fund in the third quarter this year, with half of the amount targeted to be raised from Saudi Arabia.
“This will be a fantastic opportunity for Saudi investors to approach the Brazilian market,” Eduardo Melzer, founder and chief executive officer of EB Capital, said in an interview Monday in Riyadh.
The Sao Paulo-based asset manager oversees around $1 billion and has been targeting large institutional investors and sovereign funds globally. That strategy got a boost last year when Claure, the former SoftBank Group Corp. executive, acquired a minority stake in the company and became a partner.
Brazil and Saudi Arabia have shown mutual interest in expanding trade and investment ties. The kingdom is trying to diversify its oil-dependent economy and reduce carbon emissions, while also securing supplies of food and other commodities. Latin America’s biggest economy, meanwhile, is looking to attract capital for energy transition projects, as well as agriculture.
Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion sovereign Public Investment Fund has been a prolific backer of institutional investors like SoftBank, BlackRock Inc, and Brookfield Asset Management. While PIF has said its international investments as a proportion of total outlay could drop by as much a third, the absolute dollar figure earmarked for deals abroad could rise as it increases total annual deployment to $70 billion from $40 billion this year.
Next week, the FII Institute — a non-profit run by the Saudi sovereign fund — will host a summit in Rio de Janeiro, its first in Latin America. The event will feature Claure and other investors along with Saudi authorities including Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF’s governor and chairman of oil giant Saudi Aramco.
EB Capital, which also counts Pedro Parente, the former head of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as a partner, has a portfolio of 16 companies, according to its website. Among them are a fiber optics company, a recycling firm, education platforms, and Bioo, which transforms agricultural and industrial waste into bioproducts.
--With assistance from Daniel Cancel.
(Updates with details of EB Capital holdings in last paragraph.)
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