São Carlos Empreendimentos e Participações S.A

What it is

São Carlos buys, owns, and rents out commercial property in Brazil — mainly office buildings and smaller retail convenience centers. Its portfolio focuses on the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where it holds Class-A office towers and neighbourhood convenience centers.

The company was incorporated in 1989, spun out of the retail empire of its controlling families, and has traded on B3 ever since. With only 53 staff, it is a lean holding company: the buildings do the heavy lifting, managed by a small professional team.

Who owns it

São Carlos is controlled by the families of Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles, and Carlos Alberto Sicupira — Brazil’s best-known billionaire trio — whose combined block holds roughly 54.7% of shares, with about 42.4% freely traded on the market, and the remainder split between management and the company’s own treasury.

Telles has already transferred part of his São Carlos stake to his sons. The three families are also co-founders of 3G Capital and the controlling voices behind Anheuser-Busch InBev, so São Carlos is, by their standards, a relatively small side-holding — though they run it with the same discipline they apply everywhere else.

Who runs it

Felipe Góes served as CEO until December 2023 and has since become Chairman of the Board, a role he took over in January 2024. Gustavo Mascarenhas has been CEO and Investor Relations Officer since 2024, having previously served as CFO and IR Officer in 2023.

Jorge Felipe Lemann — son of patriarch Jorge Paulo Lemann — sits on the Board of Directors, a visible sign that the founding families intend to stay closely involved as the company reshapes itself.

The money, in plain words

Revenue has shrunk sharply over three years — from R$1.4bn (US$272m) in 2023 to R$320m (US$62m) in 2025 — but most of that drop is deliberate: 2023’s big top line was loaded with one-off property sales. Rental income, the recurring engine, runs at roughly R$163m (US$31.6m) a year.

The company posted a net loss of R$48.4m (US$9 mn) in 2025, slightly wider than the R$32.9m (US$6 mn) loss in 2024 — losses that reflect the cost of servicing debt and accounting write-downs rather than any cash haemorrhage from the core rental business.

The balance sheet carries net debt of R$1.02bn · US$198.9m (our calculation) — heavy for a company of this size, at roughly 1.5× its market value. That said, by end-2025 adjusted net debt had fallen to R$237.9m (US$46 mn) against a property portfolio valued at R$2.2bn (US$427 mn), while the net asset value — the estimated worth of all buildings minus all debts — stood at R$1.9bn (US$369 mn), or R$33.9 (US$7)per share, more than double the recent share price: the central tension investors are watching.

What it is doing now

São Carlos has been selling down its property portfolio to “unlock” asset value that the stock market has not been pricing in — its buildings are appraised at R$3.1bn (US$602 mn) while its stock market value is around R$1bn (US$194 mn). Since it accelerated this sell-off in 2023, the company has transacted roughly R$2.1bn (US$408 mn) of assets.

The biggest single move came in late 2025: São Carlos completed the sale of a portfolio of eight office buildings totalling 78,200 square metres for R$837.2m (US$162 mn), receiving R$586.1m (US$114 mn) in cash and R$251.2m (US$49 mn) in units of a new property fund. Then in June 2025, it sold a further 19 retail assets — 15 convenience centres and 4 street stores — for R$308.5m (US$60 mn).

The proceeds were handed almost entirely to shareholders: the board approved R$406.1m (US$79 mn) in extraordinary dividends in November 2025, equal to R$7.10 (US$1)per share.

What to watch

• NAV vs share price gap. The gap between the R$33.9 (US$7)/share net asset value and the recent trading price is the whole investment thesis — and the whole risk. It closes only if asset sales keep pricing near book value.
• Debt load. Adjusted net debt still represents roughly 10.9% of the portfolio’s value. As the portfolio shrinks, each remaining building must service a greater share of fixed financing costs — margins leave little room for error.
• What’s left. After the big sell-downs, the remaining portfolio is smaller and more concentrated. Office vacancy in São Paulo is around 10%, and the company’s main asset on Chucri Zaidan closed 2024 at 95% occupancy — solid, but the cushion against economic stress is narrower than it was.
• End-state strategy. Management has not publicly defined whether the endgame is a leaner, permanent landlord, a full wind-down, or a merger. That ambiguity is itself a risk — and an opportunity — for investors willing to bet on the family trio’s record of execution.

This is news, not investment advice.