Latin American bank Itaú Unibanco will purchase Ideal in two stages, acquiring 50.1% of the share capital initially before making a secondary acquisition of shares worth R$651 million (US$117 million) and taking control of the company.
After the deal is completed and approved by regulatory authorities CADE and Banco Central, the bank is expected to leverage Ideal’s innovative platform - that has elevated the brokerage firm to become one of the leaders in trading on the Brazilian stock market.
Alongside this, Itaú’s aim is to accelerate the distribution of retail investments as well as improve and modernise infrastructure and in future, debut in the autonomous agent market. Ideal CEO Nilson Monteiro will continue leading operations along with the other founding partners of the company, ensuring Ideal business remains autonomous.
Monteiro highlights: "Ideal was created from the ambition that we could transform the market. We have established ourselves as a benchmark in customer experience, technology, and disruptive spirit in just over two years. Joining Itaú, in addition to being a privilege, is a sign that we are in the right direction. From the beginning of the conversations, it was evident that this new chapter in our history would have to be with Itaú. We have a lot to contribute to the bank's digital transformation, and Ideal will have immense learning potential and gain scale. But, more importantly, the alignment of principles and values between the companies has always been clear - and this is the crucial condition for any long-term project to succeed," says Nilson Monteiro.
Milton Maluhy Filho, president of Itaú Unibanco says: "This investment materializes our mantra of client centrality because they are the ones who will get the most out of the transaction. Ideal is going to help us expand and standardize the offer for different channels. Customers from various segments of the bank, such as iti, ion, or even Itaú Corretora, will be able to have access to the same products on whichever platform they prefer.”
Carlos Constantini, director in charge of Wealth Management & Services (WMS) of Itaú Unibanco, adds: “Ideal has a team recognized by the market and a well-defined strategy for its segment of activity. This structure will be maintained and will continue to operate with autonomy so that we can take advantage of the full capacity of the broker and the benefits of working with one of the market leaders. The company will play an important role in consolidating Itaú Unibanco's investment ecosystem and maintaining our market leadership. With the Ideal platform, we see the possibility of expanding the offer of investment products of Itaú Unibanco within the B2B and B2B2C models.”