Sonae wants to strengthen in Brazil and buy technology – TVI24

The Sonae group wants to strengthen the focus on Brazil, despite the economic crisis in the country.

“We have spent these last few years to gain strength and deal with our balance sheet. And today we have the strength to return to an investment firm [abroad], “he said in an interview with O Globo, Paulo Azevedo, president of the group. But the businessman does not hide the difficulties.

“We are sure it will be difficult to develop new shopping centers [in Brazil] in the near future. And that was a big goal of ours. We wanted to grow in Brazil. We have a company size. And now it needed to be bigger. And with the fall in consumption and the lack of investment capacity of tenants, we will go through a period of pause in growth, “he said.

Still, the son of the founder of one of the largest Portuguese groups ensured that will invest in shopping centers in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

“we have very interesting shopping centers in Brazil, but we do not have big cities or in the city of Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo. And we have important centers in these cities. Therefore, we would like to have more, “he added.

Currently, Sonae has ten shopping centers in Brazil, between the interior of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Goiás and Amazonas.

the crisis as an opportunity?

to the question about whether the investments will only happen when the country recover, the official said that this “can not be the worst time to find new projects. We are cautious, but attentive “

In particular, there may be opportunities in the area of ​​technology, a sector that gains increasing importance in both the retail and telecommunications. – Two core sectors of the group. Moreover, companies that have emerged within the Sonae, as Wedo, Saphety and Atlantic already know the Brazilian market.

“In the technology area, we have nine companies with operations in Brazil (…). We are looking for investments in innovative technologies that benefit those businesses. And we have invested in geolocation, to realize the traffic and flows of our customers in retail. We are also investing in cybersecurity. WeDo is increasingly becoming a big data analytics company, “he said, recalling that the group has made three acquisitions per year. “Now we double (…) (the company has a budget of 40 million euros to make acquisitions this year).”

“Technology markets are very global. We look for companies worldwide. If the Brazil, great. WeDo already made purchases in Brazil. We still have the Atlantic and Saphety, “the executive chairman of the group.