Gonzalo Fernandez Castro

Andy Sieg, Head of Wealth at Citi, gave an interview to Valor Econômico during his visit to Brazil. Sieg highlighted the significant growth in the segment's profit, more than 100 times compared to 2023, in addition to the expansion of the client base and the increase in assets under management. He also emphasized how AI is strengthening the work of bankers and advisors in the area and recognized Brazilian clients as "among the most sophisticated in the world," especially in the fixed income and foreign exchange markets. Read more about the forces driving this performance and the vision for the future of global wealth management: https://on.citi/48PyGOU

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Brazil is the world’s 9th largest economy, with nominal GDP exceeding USD 2.2 trillion in 2024, driven mainly by the Southeast region (53% of the total), and unsurprisingly led by São Paulo state (32%). What did surprise me was that Mato Grosso (MT), a grains powerhouse, was well behind other agricultural states such as Goiás (GO) and Bahia (BA), and significantly behind Minas Gerais (MG) with 9.6%.

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iFood Enters Brazil's MVNO Market Brazil’s leading food delivery platform, iFood, has officially entered the mobile market by launching its own branded mobile service in partnership with the mobile virtual network aggregator (#MVNA) and enabler (#MVNE) Surf Telecom. The initiative highlights the growing role of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (#MVNO) in creating customized solutions for specific segments — in this case, the 600,000 delivery workers who power iFood’s logistics network. The service, branded as the iFood SIM, will be available both as a physical SIM card and as an eSIM. It has been tailored to the daily connectivity needs of couriers, offering data packages with unlimited access to key applications such as WhatsApp, Waze, and the iFood app itself. By exempting work-related usage from data limits, the platform aims to reduce costs for delivery professionals, who depend heavily on mobile internet to complete their routes. The launch is structured in phases. Initially, iFood’s Super Diamond couriers will receive free access to a 20GB plan. Next month, workers in the Gold category will be able to subscribe for R$25 (about USD $5) per month, receiving 15GB data with the same app-based perks. By November, the plan will be extended to all active couriers on the platform. For Surf Telecom, which operates as an MVNA, MVNE, MVNO and MNO, the partnership represents an expansion of its role in Brazil’s mobile ecosystem. The company is leveraging its own spectrum assets in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, while also relying on the nationwide infrastructure of TIM, one of Brazil’s largest mobile operators. The iFood SIM will be supported on both 4G and 5G. According to Surf Telecom CEO Yon Moreira, the partnership has been in development for more than a year and is now set to become one of the operator’s flagship projects. “We expect to reach the vast majority of delivery workers in a short period of time,” he said in an interview with Teletime. “We are treating iFood as a partner of the first magnitude. The last thing a delivery worker wants is to worry about their phone. We will ensure connectivity works seamlessly.” For iFood, the initiative strengthens its benefits package for couriers, while also locking in loyalty through an essential service. This move by iFood is not unprecedented in the Brazilian market. In fact, it follows a similar playbook successfully established by its competitor, Uber, which also runs an MVNO specifically for its own gig workers in the country. Uber launched its MVNO, branded as Uber SIM (or Uber Chip), in partnership with the very same MVNA/MVNE, Surf Telecom, back in January 2021. https://lnkd.in/gBPue4Zr

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Scala was once again in the spotlight at the first LATAM Finance Forum, hosted by The Tech Capital in São Paulo. Our CFO, Clayton Malheiros, participated in the panel “LATAM Investment Overview: Understanding the Fundamentals Driving LATAM’s Data Centre Boom,” offering strategic insights on the emerging investment landscape and growth opportunities across the region. 💬 “Growth in Latin America isn’t a question of if, but when. The financial sector must get ready to support this transformation, by developing tailored investment products and learning from more mature markets like the U.S.”   — Clayton Malheiros, CFO, Scala Data Centers  He also highlighted Brazil’s unique advantages in meeting the surge in digital demand, especially in energy availability and climate conditions that enable lower PUEs in regions like Rio Grande do Sul. Scala already operates with the best water and energy efficiency indicators in the market, and continues to expand these standards with projects like Scala AI City, a next-gen campus designed to support the green gigawatt era.  💬 “Across Latin America, each market presents unique opportunities — but Brazil stands out for its energy availability and the ability to offer world-class PUE and WUE. That’s why we’re already building the next cycle of digital infrastructure.”   — Clayton Malheiros, CFO, Scala Data Centers  Our future-proof infrastructure enables hyperscalers and large enterprises to grow sustainably, with confidence and speed — across Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.  More than growing, Latin America is transforming. And Scala is proud to lead the way.  Thank you to The Tech Capital for hosting and to all the leaders and partners building the future with us.  #ProudToBeScala #EnablingTheFuture 

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O Portfolio perfeito existe? Esse é o tema do livro “In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: The Stories, Voices, & Key Insights of the Pioneers Who Shaped the Way We Invest” https://lnkd.in/dvceugYw Investment Book Suggestions / Where Theory Meets Practice: How to become a better investor? #21 Key Highlights • Net/Net: This very good book discusses the steps for setting up a long-term asset allocation, offering suggestions from famous minds in the investment world (including Nobel Prize winners). Among other questions, the book seeks to answer how we should combine risk-free assets such as Treasury bills with riskier assets such as stocks. • The author lists four levers that inflect your pursuit of your financial goals: 1) the target size of your goal; 2) how much you can contribute on a regular basis; 3) the time you have to reach the goal; and 4) the expected return on your investment. This matches Bogle’s emphasis on risk, time, cost and reward, as well as what Merton suggests we do in the face of financial challenges: “Save more, work harder or take more risk.” The “perfect portfolio” really only focuses on the last lever: the expected return on your portfolio. - Markowitz’s efficient frontier means that you don’t need to focus on each individual asset, but rather on a portfolio that delivers the highest expected level of return for a given level of risk. Sharpe is very specific in his advice: invest in inflation-protected treasury bonds (TIPS) and index funds or ETFs that try to replicate all the marketable bonds and stocks in the world, ideally at market proportions, to bring the portfolio closer to the market. - Fama suggests increasing exposure to small cap stocks as well as to so-called value stocks (low price/book). Bogle suggests starting with high allocation to equities (low-cost funds). As a rule of thumb, your fixed income allocation percentage should be close to your age. Scholes suggests paying attention to what derivatives markets like the VIX are telling you. - Merton: at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where he worked as a resident scientist, retirement products are linked to a global equity index and two portfolios of TIPS bonds with different durations (intermediate and long). In addition to these, hedge funds are included in Merton’s portfolios. - Leibowitz: In addition to equities, you should include bonds and other fixed income assets to reduce the overall volatility of your portfolio. Shiller suggests starting by investing in U.S. equities, but putting a heavier-than-normal weight on international equities when Shiller’s CAPE ratios – cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratios – are relatively low. Your perfect portfolio should also contain bonds, real estate, TIPS and commodities, as these are investments with relatively low correlations to equities.

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We’re pleased to announce that we secured agreements with BNDESPAR, Embraer and other institutional investors for a US$230 million equity capital raise via a registered direct offering. This transaction also initiates our dual listing in the United States and Brazil with the subscription of Brazilian Depositary Receipts (BDRs) by BNDES.   “Eve’s dual listing in the United States and Brazil is aligned with our continuous effort to diversify our investor base, bringing new stockholders from different locations,” said our CFO, Eduardo Siffert Couto.   In addition, our CEO, Johann C. Bordais, commented: “This equity raise marks a significant milestone in our journey. It supports our vision and fuels our mission to transform urban mobility. We’re proud to have BNDES onboard and we deeply value Embraer’s continued commitment to Eve and our program.”   Read the news: https://lnkd.in/e2-5gxe5 #EveAirMobility #MobilityReimagined #UAM #eVTOL #BNDES

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Brazil’s central bank held its interest rate steady at a nearly two-decade high, signaling there’s no change in sight to the current level of borrowing costs as policymakers keep their guard up against inflation risks. Board members led by Gabriel Galipolo kept the benchmark Selic at 15% for the second straight meeting late on Wednesday, as expected by all economists in a Bloomberg survey. In an accompanying statement, they wrote that the local labor market is showing strength, current inflation levels are above target and future consumer price expectations are unanchored. “The Committee will remain vigilant, evaluating whether maintaining the interest rate at its current level for a very prolonged period will be enough to ensure the convergence of inflation to the target,” policymakers wrote. It “emphasizes that future monetary policy steps can be adjusted and that it will not hesitate to resume the rate hiking cycle if appropriate.” Brazil central bankers are staying on the defensive as consumer price forecasts in Latin America’s largest economy remain above the 3% target through 2028. While annual inflation slowed for the second straight month in August, much of the decline was due to drops in volatile components like electricity and food, rather than broad improvement. Record-low unemployment and public spending are also underpinning demand, challenging restrictive monetary policy. [...] Source: Bloomberg Article link: https://lnkd.in/eSZEbHxZ #brazil #emergingmarkets #interestrates

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