Brazil For Sale: foreign companies snapping up Brazilian assets

Brazil is still struggling to recover from its worst recession on record, the full effects of which will only become clear several years down the line. The currency has devalued significantly, and despite a recent rally, the Real has slipped 16 percent against the U.S. Dollar in the last year. A weaker Real causes all sorts of problems at home, not least provoking the ire of consumers who have seen their hard-earned salaries become worth less and less as the years go on.

Another knock-on effect of this, however, has been that it has become a lot cheaper for foreign companies to invest in Brazil. Data from business intelligence tool Transaction Track Record shows that almost 400 Brazilian companies have been acquired by foreigners in the last five years alone.

Almost BRL 133 billion (USD 36 billion) has been spent over this period to buy equity in Brazilian businesses, a trend which has increased even more rapidly in the last year. 2017 saw 108 transactions involving foreign capital, as opposed...