BRISANET ON NM

What it is

Brisanet connects the Brazilian Northeast through fibre-optic internet, a mobile 5G network, and other services. Founded in 1998, the company started as a family business in the small town of Pereiro, Ceará, and has since grown into the dominant broadband provider across a region historically overlooked by Brazil’s larger telecoms.

It now reaches more than 1.5 million active customers across over 150 cities, selling full-fibre home internet, mobile 5G plans, and streaming bundles. The pitch is simple: bring fast, affordable broadband to towns that Claro, Vivo, and TIM never bothered to wire.

Who owns it

The founding family retains a commanding grip: Jordão Estevam, co-founder and Commercial Director, returned at age 21 to run the company his family had built. Insiders collectively hold 80.7% of shares, institutional investors 10.5%, leaving a free float of roughly 8.8% — meaning the public market is a thin slice of a still-private-feeling enterprise (EODHD; our calculation).

In late 2024 the group completed a corporate simplification: Brisanet Participações S.A., the former holding company, was formally merged into Brisanet Serviços de Telecomunicações S.A. The listed entity now sits at the top of the structure — one less layer between shareholders and the operating business.

Who runs it

Jordão Estevam serves as Commercial Director of Grupo Brisanet, combining founder ownership with day-to-day commercial oversight. Luciana Paulo Ferreira is the Investor Relations Director, with the group since March 2021; she previously held IR roles at CSN, Braskem, and Algar Telecom.

The name of the Chief Executive Officer was not confirmed in sources accessible at the time of publication; the Formulário de Referência filed with the CVM carries the full statutory board and should be consulted for the definitive list. Separately, independent board member Geraldo Luciano Mattos Júnior resigned in March 2025, with his replacement to be elected at the annual general meeting convened for 24 April 2025.

The money, in plain words

Brisanet is growing fast — revenue rose from R$1.23 bn (US$239 m) in FY2023 to R$1.68 bn (US$327 m) in FY2025, a 36% gain in two years, or about 17.5% in the most recent year alone (our calculation). The trouble is that wiring up hundreds of towns is expensive: for every real of sales it keeps only about 2.4 cents as net profit — a net margin of 2.4% — down sharply from 13.3% just two years ago.

The balance sheet shows why margins are compressed: the company carries R$2.52 bn (US$490 m) in total debt against only R$9.8 m (US$1.9 m) of cash, a net debt position of roughly R$2.51 bn (US$488 m, our calculation). For every real owners have put in, it earns about 2.6 cents a year — a return on equity of 2.6%, low by any standard and a clear signal that the infrastructure investment has yet to pay back its cost of capital.

The market is pricing in a future payoff: at 35.6 times earnings, the price-to-earnings ratio reflects growth expectations, not today’s slim returns.

What it is doing now

In early 2025 Brisanet contracted BTG Pactual as a market maker for its BRST3 shares on B3 — a move intended to improve daily trading liquidity for a stock with a thin free float. The company is simultaneously pressing its 5G mobile rollout across the Northeast, where it believes it can cross-sell mobile plans to its existing fibre base at low incremental cost.

What to watch

• Margin recovery. Net margin fell from 13.3% in FY2023 to 2.4% in FY2025 as capital spending rose; the key question is whether revenue growth will eventually dilute those fixed costs back into a meaningful profit line.
• Debt load. Net debt of ~R$2.5 bn (US$488 m) against equity of R$1.54 bn (US$300 m) gives a debt-to-equity ratio of roughly 1.6× (our calculation) — manageable today, but sensitive to a rise in Brazilian interest rates.
• Free-float and governance. With insiders at 80.7%, minority shareholders have limited sway; the board vacancy left by the Mattos Júnior resignation and how it is filled will signal whether the company takes independent governance seriously.
• 5G competition. National carriers are beginning to move into secondary cities; if Vivo or Claro decide the Northeast is worth fighting for, Brisanet’s pricing power gets tested for the first time.

This is news, not investment advice.