“Heading into the unknown requires a “Heading into the unknown requires a good deal of courage, but I believe it's the good deal of courage, but I believe it's the right
Albano Franco Partner and Head of Credit EM
Partner and Head of Credit EM
‘’There comes a time in every life when the past recedes and the future opens. It's that moment when you turn to face the unknown. Some will turn back to what they already know. Some will walk straight ahead into uncertainty I can't tell you which one is right But I can tell you which one is more fun’’
Philip H. Knight (Stanford MBA 1962)
At the beginning of 2000, I was on the brink of making a decision that would change my life. After
entirely dedicating my childhood and teenage years to tennis participating in competitions and spending months travelling the world in search of the
professional tennis dream, a new opportunity arose After posting videotapes to American coaches and completing various tests and interviews, I received some scholarship offers to play for American universities. The internet was in its early stages and the distances, consequently, seemed so great that it all sounded like a distant dream. Some months later, and after jumping through the hoops of bureaucracy, I signed a contract with the university that covered my studies, including housing, books, health plan and meals. It was the socalled full ride that my parents and I needed;
my destination was Atlanta, Georgia, where I had never been before If all went well, that's where I would spend the next four years of my life. For an 18-year-old used to life in Rio, it would be a radical change Although I had always been encouraged by my parents, I remember that until the day before, they still couldn't believe what was about to happen. My father confessed to me that he didn't put much trust in that “talk” and that it was only on the day that he took me to the airport, that he finally realised that his son was taking a different path, far away from home.
During these years of study, I continued to compete and matured a lot with the responsibilities I acquired living alone abroad. This decision broadened my horizons even more, gave me a different view of the world and was fundamental in enabling me to build my career in the financial market after graduating. This experience enabled me to join the Backoffice of the then Banco Pactual, where I became a partner and learnt a lot during the 15 years there. Above all, it's experiences like this that shape personalities and teach common sense, which I think is increasingly scarce in today's world.
SPX's history was marked by the decision to go international when, in 2016, three of the main partners decided to explore new horizons by opening an office in London. This move opened doors for many people looking to expand their areas of expertise Today 68 employees are based outside Brazil in our offices in London, New York,
Cascais and Singapore. The possibility of exporting our talents is a great advantage for the business, as we must be concerned with maintaining the company's culture so that it is not lost during this expansion
The success of the different verticals depends on a number of factors. At the credit desk, we've always focused on having a consistent start that consolidated our first products. That's what we did with Seahawk; we got through the pandemic, grew our assets under management and delivered results as expected by our shareholders within our mandate. Then we were faced with a very challenging window abroad since the opening of Seahawk Global and Seahawk Previdência, both with offshore exposure. We stayed above water, went through credit events (moratoriums) and today our track record leaves us well positioned to capture a moment of greater interest in the asset class, including greater exposure by Brazilian investors abroad More recently, with the launch of Seahawk Debêntures incentivadas, we have sought to expand our range of funds, so that we can operate in a very competitive niche, given the significant tax benefits offered today
With a good range of credit funds in the local market, I believe that the offshore part currently represents a great opportunity. Our results in the international portfolio within Seahawk Global and Seahawk Prev provide the necessary track record required to explore mandates in emerging market debt with a focus on Latin America. Moreover, there is also the global presence
of our research department that covers the main regions of the world Exploring the Asian market in greater depth seems to me to be a natural consequence of our growth, as well as another step in this internationalisation process. On the demand side, there is a less than desirable allocation of Brazilian investors to the international market, both institutional and retail. Foreign investors also lack well-structured fund management companies with expertise in this niche.
Our business involves a major performance challenge in short timeframes, while at the same time we must look ahead and project our growth. No one should expect it to be an easy path, on the contrary Heading into the unknown requires a good deal of courage, but I believe it's the right path for an already well-structured fund management company like SPX, and it's undoubtedly the most fun. Phil Knight and Nike can tell you that
In April, we welcomed students from UFRJ to our Rio de Janeiro office, as part of our initiatives to strengthen our employer brand. The visit was led by Bruna Silveira from the Equities team, Lucas Beltrame from Commodities and Karina Mendes from Investor Relations. Aside from providing students with a more detailed understanding of SPX, these meetings offer opportunities to clarify doubts relating to the labour market and explore career options. Additionally, we were present at the Semana Fluxo de Engenharia e Feira de Carreiras, an event organised by the Escola
Politécnica da UFRJ in partnership with Fluxo Consultoria (highlighted as the leading junior engineering consultancy company over the last five years). The aim of the event is to offer a practical overview of the labour market and present the opportunities available to future professionals in engineering and other areas, through lectures, workshops and interactive stands. More than 15 institutions were represented over the four days of the event. Aside from the HR team, we also had representatives from the Quant, ESG, Commodities, Risk, Macro and Interest departments.
SPX has been neutralising 100% of its Green House Gas (GHG) emissions since 2022. As part of the emissions inventory process information was collected on the operation of all SPX offices during May, such as energy consumption, waste generation and corporate travel. In addition, employees were invited to answer the Mobility
Questionnaire, which is necessary for measuring emissions related to commuting. Everyone's participation in the questionnaire is essential in order to accurately measure indirect GHG emissions.
SPX Capital took part in a charity dinner in London on the 15th of April with funds allocated by the Philanthropy Committee: Gerando Falcões Benefit Dinner – London 2024, an event of great importance for fundraising and for generating a positive impact in Brazil through transformation and social development in Brazilian communities.
SPX was represented by Bruno Pandolfi, Marcelo Castro, Leonardo Cabral and Luis Cristofaro. Marcelo gave a speech about our work on impact projects: “Since 2015, we have maintained a philanthropy committee dedicated to allocating our resources to NGOs and social projects. Over this period, we have managed to positively impact more than 170,000 direct beneficiaries in 239
different projects.”
Our commitment to social causes and Corporate Social Responsibility led us to embrace this opportunity to make a difference.
We had the pleasure of welcoming in our São Paulo office high school students from the Reciclar project, supported by Instituto Ambikira, our partner for philanthropic projects
It was a day for sharing experiences about careers and a unique opportunity for these aspiring teenage professionals to explore different areas of profession, learn about career challenges and the various opportunities that the corporate world in the financial market offers Our volunteers were enthusiastic about sharing their experiences with the future professionals. From inspiring talks to conversations in smaller groups, the students were able to better understand
the skills needed to succeed in their careers.
We firmly believe in the power of guidance and mentoring to help young people reach their full potential We are committed to supporting the next generation of leaders and professionals, and this initiative reflects our commitment to community and talent development.
Rogério Xavier, William Bethlem and Yizhe Xie have recently concluded a two-week trip to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. From there, Rogério and William had two more days of meetings in Singapore In total, they had fifty-four meetings with government officials, regulators, banks, institutional investors, asset managers, exchanges and more.
The key objectives of the trip were to understand better the economic and political environment, to explore business opportunities, and to expand our network of contacts in China. All these objectives were successfully accomplished
Independently of short-term market conditions, China is poised to play an increasingly important role in global markets. In addition, the favourable diplomatic relations between China and Brazil set a solid base for our firm. Therefore, we will continue to strengthen our ties and increase our involvement with China.
SPX Seahawk Debêntures Incentivadas, which was already available for investments through BTG Pactual and Itaú, can now also be found on the XP Investimentos platform. The fund invests in the local credit market, primarily in infrastructure sector companies, through careful selection of diversified assets with tax incentives and low risk.
available on the platforms
The FII SPXS11 distributed dividends in the amount of R$0.095/share for March/24 (Dividend Yield: 1 00% p m or 12 72% p aDY calculated with the closing price on 28/03). According to the latest Management Report released, we increased the allocation in FIIs to 14% of the fund's PL, in addition to selling a position in the stock portfolio with a gross return of 18 7% and IRR of 45% p.a..
Click here to access the Report.
3.
Vitru, which is part of the SPX's Private Equity portfolio, was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the TOP 5 Edtechs in the World The World's Top EdTech Companies 2024 list recognizes companies focused on the development and delivery of educational technologies, products, or services. The ranking is based on research and analysis of over 7,000 companies in two domais: financial strength and industry impact.
4.
Pedro Daltro, Director and Head of Real Estate at SPX, was featured in an article by EInvestidor (Estadão) where he shared his views on the current economic scenario and investment prospects.
Click here for the full article.
You can join our newsletter too!
If you would like to suggest topics or content, ask questions or share ideas, send an email to: newsletter@spxcapital.com
Follow SPX on social media and stay updated with exclusive content!
