In Brief: Equifax Buys Stake in Brazil Card Processor

Equifax Inc., the Atlanta-based credit information company, bought a majority stake in Unnisa-Solucoes em Meios de Pagamento Ltds., a major Brazilian provider of bank card and private-label card processing.

The acquisition is the second in Brazil for Equifax in less than a month and the first card-processing venture by the company in Latin America. In late August, it spent about $200 million to buy an 80% stake in Sao Paulo- based Seguranca ao Credito e Informacoes, Brazil's biggest financial information company.

Equifax also has bought a 34% stake in Proceda Tecnologia e Informatica SA, a Brazilian provider of outsourcing services for information technology companies.

The three acquisitions bring Equifax's investments in Brazil to about $350 million, the company said. Brazil has some 46 million bank cards outstanding, a number expected to grow by 25% in each of the next three years, Equifax said. The company added it expects the market for cards to expand significantly in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.