Brazil’s Banks Kept 82% of the Bonds They Were Meant to Sell

Credit

When investors stopped buying Brazilian corporate bonds this spring, the bonds did not stop being issued. The banks arranging them simply kept the paper, and the Brazil credit market now runs through their balance sheets.

Brazilian companies raised fifty-five billion reais, about ten point seven billion dollars, through debentures in the second quarter. Eighty-two point four percent of that stayed with the coordinating banks.

Of the hundred and two issues registered with the securities regulator, sixty-two were absorbed entirely by the banks arranging them. In those deals the paper never reached an outside investor.

What broke the Brazil credit market

The sequence began in October, when the environmental services group Ambipar and the chemicals maker Unigel sought court protection. Then it accelerated.

Raízen, the Shell and Cosan fuel and sugar venture, filed Brazil’s largest ever out-of-court restructuring at sixty-five billion reais. The petrochemical group Braskem followed, along with the supermarket chain GPA, the cancer-care operator Oncoclínicas, the hospital group Kora Saúde and the furniture retailer behind Tok&Stok.

Retail investors held much of that debt through funds sold on the XP and BTG Pactual platforms. When losses appeared, they asked for their money back.

Gross withdrawals, not net flight

The withdrawal figures deserve care, because they are widely misread. Fifty-one billion reais, roughly nine point nine billion dollars, left credit funds across April and May.

That is a gross figure covering the two worst months, not a net balance for the year. Across the whole first half, according to the industry association Anbima, Brazilian investment funds took in a net one hundred and eighty-four point seven billion reais.

That is more than double the same period of 2025 and the second-best first half in five years. Fixed income drew a hundred and eight point four billion of it.

By June the redemptions had practically stopped and spreads had tightened again. What the episode left behind is not a run on funds but an inventory problem inside banks.

A rule that forces selling into a falling market

The damage concentrated in tax-exempt infrastructure debentures, an instrument Brasília created to fund roads, power lines and ports. Their issuance volume fell fifty-seven point six percent, and banks ended up holding eighty-nine point one percent of what was sold.

The reason is regulatory. Funds specialising in these bonds must hold at least two-thirds of their portfolio in them within six months of raising money, rising to eighty-five percent after two years.

Such a fund cannot build a cash buffer against withdrawals. Facing redemptions, it must sell bonds into a market where the only remaining buyer is the bank that underwrote them.

Guilherme Maranhão, who chairs Anbima’s capital markets structuring forum, described the reversal precisely. After the heavy inflows of 2025 the industry moved from a pressing need to allocate money to a need to sell paper to stay allocated.

Who pays for the Brazil credit adjustment

Companies did. Banks raised the rate charged to borrowers by thirty to fifty basis points to keep underwriting firm-commitment deals.

Firms that could wait waited. Those facing a maturity or a capital-spending schedule paid the premium, and quarterly issuance volume fell thirty-four and a half percent against a year earlier, with thirty-one fewer deals.

Bank participation rose by thirty-three percentage points. For a foreign investor the reading is uncomfortable, because a market where the arranger keeps the goods is not really a market.

The banks are unwinding the inventory slowly, and their appetite for the next deal is visibly smaller. One Itaú banker put it plainly, preferring five bonds of a billion reais each to a single five-billion issue that would take a long time to digest.

Are Brazilian credit funds in crisis?

No, and the widely quoted redemption numbers describe two stressed months rather than the year. Withdrawals of about fifty-one billion reais across April and May were gross flows, while the fund industry as a whole recorded a net inflow of one hundred and eighty-four point seven billion reais in the first half, and by June credit-fund redemptions had nearly ceased.

Why are banks holding so many debentures?

Because investors stopped buying while companies still needed to borrow, leaving the underwriting banks to absorb the paper themselves under firm-commitment mandates. Eighty-two point four percent of second-quarter issuance stayed on bank books, rising to eighty-nine point one percent for tax-exempt infrastructure bonds.

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What triggered the sell-off?

A cluster of corporate debt restructurings, beginning with Ambipar and Unigel in late 2025 and running through Raízen, Braskem, GPA, Oncoclínicas and others. Losses on those bonds, many held by retail investors through distribution platforms, prompted redemptions that forced funds to sell holdings into a market with few buyers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much of Brazil's corporate bond issuance did arranging banks retain in Q2?

Banks that arranged deals kept 82.4% of the R$55bn ($10.7bn) in corporate bonds sold in the second quarter. Of 102 registered issues, 62 were absorbed entirely by the arranging banks, meaning the paper never reached an outside investor.

Which segment of the Brazilian bond market was hit hardest?

Tax-free infrastructure bonds were the worst affected, falling 57.6% in volume. Of the infrastructure bonds that were issued, 89.1% were left sitting on the arranging banks' own balance sheets.

How did Brazilian credit funds perform during this period?

Credit funds saw R$51bn ($9.9bn) withdrawn in April and May, with June redemptions close to zero. Despite the turmoil in the corporate bond market, Brazilian funds overall still drew a net R$184.7bn ($35.9bn) in the first half of the year.