Pátria Investimentos confirms acquisition of 50% of manager VBI, focused on real estate funds

The company confirmed the negotiation in a material fact, which did not detail the deal values

Pátria Investimentos, one of the leaders in asset management in Latin America, confirmed, in a material fact, that it formalized an association agreement this Thursday (9) and now has a 50% stake in VBI Real Estate, a manager focused on Brazilian real estate market.

According to the document, the transaction provides for the incorporation, by the VBI, of a portion of the equity of Pátria Logística (PATL11) and of Pátria Edifícios Corporativos (PATC11), in addition to the fund management activities.

“In this way, upon completion of the transaction, VBI will succeed Pátria in such activities and will become a member of the Pátria group”, highlights the statement.

Pátria’s partners currently responsible for the real estate area will join the investment committee and the board of directors of VBI.

The material fact, disclosed this Thursday (9), does not detail the values ​​of the deal and reminds that the conclusion of the transaction depends on the overcoming of conditions common to this type of agreement.

With around BRL 5.7 billion under management, VBI currently has five real estate funds in its portfolio: VBI Logístico (LVBI11), VBI CRI (CVBI11), VBI Reits FoF (RVBI11), VBI Prime Properties (PVBI11) and VBI Consumption (EVBI11).

The transaction reinforces Pátria’s operations in the FIIs segment, says Jacinto Neto, real estate fund specialist at Funds Explorer. “Pátria is very strong in institutional real estate private equity. As I see it, they took VBI to get into retail real estate strong,” he said in a Twitter post.

For Marcos Baroni, head of research in FIIs at Suno Research, the possible purchase of VBI by Pátria reflects the movement of consolidation of the real estate fund market.

“Initially, nothing changes for the real estate funds linked to these managers”, he says. “This is a market consolidation movement in search of gains in scale and operational efficiency”.

In February, XP Asset had already agreed to acquire Habitat Capital Partners, a manager specializing in real estate funds and with approximately R$ 730 million in assets under management.

Marx Gonçalves, an analyst at Nord Research, also naturally sees the consolidation movement in the real estate fund segment, especially in a period that he classifies as challenging – more adverse for fundraising.

“The drop in interest rates made many investors seek real estate funds, encouraging the entry of new managers into the market”, he recalls. “With the rise in interest rates, there is an opposite movement and it is normal for more capitalized groups to absorb smaller companies”.

The analyst says that the impact of deals like this for the investor must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. According to him, the permanence of the current management team is the main point to be observed by VBI shareholders.

“We invested in a fund because of the trust in the management and the departure of the team ends up worrying”, he analyzes. “In the case of VBI, everything indicates that the current partners should continue, which is very positive for the quality of the team”.

Source: Infomoney