Itaú Unibanco sold 10 million XP shares this afternoon, equivalent to 1.89% of the brokerage firm’s capital.
The sale came out at US$ 22.18 — a 2.7% discount in relation to the canvas price — and moved US$ 221 million.
The sale was designed so that the bank’s stake in XP would fall below 10% of the brokerage’s capital.
Before the block, the bank had 10.54% of XP; now it has 8.65%.
After distributing all of its XP shares to its shareholders in October 2021, Itaú had to exercise a contractual obligation on the initial investment it made in the brokerage in 2017 — which forced it to buy 11.3% of XP in April last year.
Shortly thereafter, the bank sold about 1.5% of the capital so that its stake fell below 10% — a level that, under Basel rules, takes regulatory capital from the bank.
But even standing still, Itaú returned above 10%. As XP repurchased and canceled shares, this passively increased the bank’s stake again, which triggered today’s sale.
Itaú does not intend to make new sales in the short term, a person familiar with the bank’s plans told the Brazil Journal.
By reducing the participation to 8.65% of the capital, the bank has already created fat so that new repurchases and cancellations of XP do not raise its participation again above 10%.
The transaction was intermediated by Itaú BBA brokerage.
Geraldo Samor