INTERVIEW-HSBC Brazil optimistic on growth, deals possible
By Steve Slater
LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - HSBC's (HSBA.L) Brazilian bank is confident it can sustain its strong recent growth in the near future and will consider acquisitions to speed its advance, but a major deal is not on the horizon, the head of the unit said.
"We'd love to do acquisitions if someone wants to sell or the price is right," Emilson Alonso, CEO of HSBC Bank Brasil, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, but added that bank owners did not appear keen to sell. "At this stage I don't think there's anything transformational," he said.
Alonso said HSBC would like to buy ABN AMRO's AAH.AS Brazilian business, but acknowledged it was not clear whether it would become available. Analysts estimate ABN AMRO Real could be worth over $17 billion.
ABN is in talks to be bought by Britain's Barclays (BARC.L), which this week dismissed talk it would sell the Brazil arm to help fund its deal. A rival consortium proposal to break up ABN would see Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) buy the business.
"We have a good organic growth plan," HSBC's Alonso said. "If opportunities appear ... when and if they appear, we will take them," he told Reuters before the bank gave a presentation to investors about its Latin America business.
Alonso said he was optimistic that a stable and growing economy and good prospects for financial services would underpin future growth.
HSBC's Brazilian profits rose 30 percent to $526 million last year, the bank's fastest growth after China and India.
"The growth has been sustainable and we expect it to continue for the next two or three years," Alonso said. "The sustainability will be driven by an ability to be efficient in a market that has a huge potential for growth."
HSBC's Brazil bank, which was established 10 years ago, is the country's seventh-biggest non-state bank by assets and the third-largest foreign-owned bank.
Alonso acknowledged it gets close attention from Michael Geoghegan, who took over as HSBC group chief executive a year ago after running the Brazil business from 1997 to 2003.
"He has a piece of his heart in Brazil. My mission is not to give him trouble," Alonso said.
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