Billionaire Marcelo Claure, the former SoftBank Group Corp. executive, said he made an investment in Brazil’s EB Capital that gives him a “significant” stake in the investment firm, and that he will become a company partner and vice chairman.
(Bloomberg) — Billionaire Marcelo Claure, the former SoftBank Group Corp. executive, said he made an investment in Brazil’s EB Capital that gives him a “significant” stake in the investment firm, and that he will become a company partner and vice chairman.
EB Capital, based in Sao Paulo, has 5 billion reais ($987 million) under management and stakes in companies including health-care, education, green-energy and telecommunications firms. Claure and EB Capital declined to say how big an interest he’s acquiring or how much he’ll pay for it. The investment was made through the Claure Group family office, which has $4 billion under management, according to a statement.
“Brazil’s emerging as potentially the green power in the entire world,” Claure said in an interview from New York. “So I’m incredibly bullish. My next step was to go find the right partners. And I found in EB Capital what I like to call an emerging platform — one that is fast-growing and, more importantly, one that shares the same vision that I have for the country.”
Claure said that he’s been traveling and meeting many of the largest institutional investors and sovereign funds globally who can help “turbo charge” EB Capital. The firm will open a New York office inside Claure Group’s space in the city.
Claure, 52, has been busy this year. He launched a new venture capital firm with former colleague Mwashuma “Shu” Nyatta called Bicycle Capital and was just named group vice chairman of Chinese fast-fashion firm Shein. Last month, his family office partnered with Eldridge and Brightstar Capital Partners to acquire a majority stake in Australian mining firm Ausenco. The former WeWork and Sprint executive owns stakes in football clubs including Bolivar in his native Bolivia and Girona in Spain.
The co-founders at EB Capital include Pedro Parente, who held the chief executive officer role at firms including Petroleo Brasileiro SA and BRF SA. Eduardo Sirotsky Melzer is EB Capital’s CEO and Luciana Antonini Ribeiro is the chief investment officer.
The firm seeks solutions to Brazil’s “structural gaps” and global issues such as energy transition, food scarcity and decarbonization, Ribeiro said.
Claure’s investment and addition as a partner will “speed up the process of growth,” Parente said in the interview. “It will open many doors all over the world.”
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