Brazil Titan’s Empire of Distressed Businesses Unravels in Banco Master Probe

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Banco Master and Tanure also used services and investment funds from asset manager Trustee DTVM, which is owned by Quadrado. Funds managed by Trustee are being investigated by the Federal Police as part of a multi-state operation to dismantle criminal money laundering schemes tied to fuel distribution.

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Tanure’s lawyers said that the businessman isn’t responsible for the operations of any bank, brokerage firm or asset management firm where he was a client.

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Taking Risks

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Over a two-year period, starting in 2021, Tanure used funds managed by Trustee to take control of health-care provider Alliança Saude SA, using the brokerage firm of Banco Master as his representative in an auction at Brazil’s stock exchange B3. In 2023, Tanure paid 891 million reais to buy the rest of the company. In December, CVM reopened an inquiry into the buyout, according to local media, looking into why it took longer than the mandated 30 days to start. 

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Last week, Alliança Saude obtained an emergency court protection against creditors as it struggles to meet upcoming debt payments. 

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Tanure’s representative said the takeover bid was always part of the Alliança acquisition plan, and was carried out with available resources.

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“I took risks. I think that ability to take risks is important and should be developed more intensely,” Tanure said on the podcast in 2024, talking generally about his business endeavors. “It is risk that generates wealth.”

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In the same conversation, Tanure said he was driven to invest in distressed assets because of a lack of capital. If he had money, Tanure said, he would have bought shares in companies such as Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

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“I didn’t have a penny,” he said. “I had to look for businesses where my ability to work, to produce, whether physical or mental work, would make a difference.”

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Tanure was born in Bahia, and graduated in the mid-1970s with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from a public university in the state. He studied for a while in Paris, then began working for his father’s real estate company.

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He said he was frustrated by the few opportunities in Bahia, and moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1977 and started investing in distressed firms. One of his first investments was a minority position in Sequip, an oil and gas services company.

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Throughout the 1990s, Tanure invested in engineering and shipping-related companies, including Verolme and Ishibras. In 2001, he bought ports operator Companhia Docas do Rio de Janeiro, which he built into one of his most famous holding companies, Docas Investimentos SA.

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After some smaller forays into the telecoms sector, Tanure rose to prominence trying to buy Oi SA, which in 2016 was facing one of the largest bankruptcy filing processes in Brazilian history. He bought the Jornal do Brasil and Gazeta Mercantil newspapers, but has said he was never able to make them profitable, and closed them shortly after.

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He also invested in real estate, joining the board of Gafisa SA in 2019, and helped build Prio SA into one of Brazil’s biggest oil companies.

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Tanure also bought a stake in Rio’s power company, Light SA, using funds managed by Trustee. Banco Master also bought shares from Light, which were sold to Banco BTG Pactual SA when the lender was trying to raise cash in 2025. 

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Not all of Tanure’s ambitious distressed plays ended with a deal. In 2023, he lost out to a fellow Brazilian entrepreneur in an attempt to acquire UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s operations in Brazil. The following year, he tried but gave up on plans to anchor an investment in Sabesp, the water utility that was privatized by Sao Paulo state.

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And last year, Tanure was planning to buy control of one of the world’s biggest petrochemical companies, Braskem SA. His involvement worried investors, who were concerned that he would push to restructure outstanding debt. Tanure abandoned the plan due to the possible impact of a disaster in Alagoas on the company’s balance sheet, according to his representative.