Economy & Business - February 2004

Bradesco, the country's biggest private-sector bank, came out on top in the first privatisation held since President Lula took office. On 10 February, Bradesco offered fractionally more than its main rival, Banco Itaú, for the Banco do Estado de Maranhão, and thus secured the state bank which dominates the financial services business in the Amazonian state.

Bradesco paid R$78m for the bank, only a whisker over the minimum price set by the central bank of R$77m. It said that it would pay for its new subsidiary mostly with debt that had been issued by now-defunct state companies. 

Bradesco has become a dab hand at picking up state banks in auctions; it has won the Banco do Estado do Amazonas and the Banco do Estado de Bahia. The next state bank to come up for auction will be the Banco do Estado de Santa Catarina, in the prosperous south of the country.

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