Internacionalização do Banco do Brasil: um estudo de caso dos fatores motivadores para aquisição do Eurobank

Abstract

The recent years have witnessed a wave of fusions and acquisitions in the financial system, motivated by a number of factors such as: to expand to new markets, to diversify income sources, and even for business opportunities due to financial crisis. In this scenario, we chose to analyze which were the determinant factors to internationalize Banco do Brasil when it became a bank with local operation in the United States through the acquisition of the Eurobank. Such study is relevant when we consider the historical internationalization increment of Banco do Brasil, usually moving in convergence with the Uppsala School and the behavioral model. It creates a counterpoint to the operation of foreign direct investment, which technical support resides in the economic model. The present dissertation is a qualitative case study; descriptive, applied to the Banco do Brasil S.A. in the context of the acquisition of Eurobank in the state of Florida, in the United States, with its posterior transformation in Banco do Brasil Americas. As the investigation method, data were collected from multiple evidence sources such as: interviews with high level strategic and operational representatives from Banco do Brasil and Banco do Brasil Americas, questionnaires, document and bibliographical research, and direct observation. Data analysis and the final construction of the dissertation were based on the theoretical review of the theme. The study described the internationalization history of Banco do Brasil and identified its main foreign operation areas. Later, we verified the acquisition convergence of Eurobank with the studied theoretical currents, that is: Eclectic Paradigm, School of Uppsala and the Networks Theory. We identified convergence points in the internationalization history of Banco do Brasil with the School of Uppsala and the Network Theory. However, we found that the Eclectic Paradigm was closest to describe the operation we studied. Finally, we identified and elaborated the determinant factors for the Eurobank acquisition, which were: (1) the existence of a large Brazilian community in the target region, (2) to enable a complement to the product and service portfolio offered by the bank in the United States, (3) a strategy to diversify risks and income sources, (4) to widen competences and improve management through experience exchange, and (5) the intention of settling and expanding in the American market in the medium and long term.