SAO PAULO — Bank of America Corp. will sell its entire stake in Brazil's largest private bank, Itau Unibanco Holding SA, for a little more than $3.9 billion, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Bank of America holds a 5.36% stake in Itau Unibanco. Bank of America said it will sell 188.4 million preferred shares of Itau Unibanco in the form of American Depositary Shares, with each ADS priced at $16.00. That operation will total $3.01 billion.
In addition, Itausa SA, the holding company that controls Itau Unibanco, said it will pay $903.6 million to Bank of America in order to acquire 56.47 million common shares, representing 2.5% of total common shares of Itau Unibanco, trading on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.
Itausa will issue 1.4 billion Brazilian reals ($750 million) in debentures in order to finance the acquisition.
BofA entered into Itau Unibanco's capital in 2006 when it sold its operations in Brazil, Uruguay and Chile in an all stock transaction worth $2.8 billion.
Earlier this month, the U.S.-based bank decided to sell its entire stake in Itau Unibanco to help reinforce its capital.
Itau Unibanco was created at the end of 2008 from the merger of Banco Itau Holdings Financeira SA and Unibanco-Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros SA.
