When 2019 vintage São Paolo-based Brazilian private equity fund Starboard Special Situations 2 returned '3x' in three years, XP Private's then global head, Beny Podlubny, realised a healthy profit as an investor. But, more importantly, he also saw confirmation of his view that the distressed-situations fund was tapping a lucrative and largely ignored seam of Brazil’s financial geology.
The famous Steve Jobs line about being able to trace one’s life back from the end to see the coincidental and transformative junctures, can be applied to companies. Even new business models.
And so BlueOak Investments was launched, with five founding partners: Podlubny; Meton Morais, who was at the helm at Starboard Restructuring Partners; and Joao Junqueira, who was previously at GP Investments, where he was CFO and manager of various funds. Both Morais and Junqueira were focused on investing and managing the recovery of assets that were either distressed or belonged to parent groups going through a financial crisis.
Then there is Gustavo Florentino Ribeiro – former chief executive of Ibitu Energia – and Paulo Barroso, previously partner of Brazilian law firm Campos Mello Advogados and frequent collaborator with Morais during his five-year tenure at Starboard.
Euromoney sat down with Podlubny, Morais and Junqueira in October while they explained the strategy behind the launch.
