Conglomerado Alfa

Financial group Conglomerado Alfa, with it’s headquarters in São Paulo and affiliates in seven other brazilian cities (Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Salvador and Brasília), develops most of it’s activities in the financial sector, but also acts in other areas.

In the financial sector the conglomerate owns the following companies: Banco Alfa, Banco Alfa de Investimento, Alfa Financeira, Alfa Leasing, Alfa Corretora, Alfa Seguradora e Alfa Previdência. Other businesses encompass: hospitality (Rede Transamérica de Hotéis), construction material (C&C Casa de Construção), agricultural and agro-industry (Agropalma), leather (Soubach), food (Água Prata and Sorvetes La Basque), culture (Teatro Alfa) and communications (Rádio Transamérica and TV Transamérica).

The group’s history began in 1925, with the foundation of Banco da Lavoura de Minas Gerais by Clemente Faria, politician and son of Minas Gerais stockgrower Pacífico Faria. Before founding the bank, Faria was a state deputy for Mingas Gerais (1915-1918) and, after the foundation, was elected federal deputy for Minas Gerais in 1930, but his mandate lasted only six months. It was interrupted by the revolution that led Getúlio Vargas to the presidency and extinguished legislative organs in the country.

In 1972, Banco da Lavoura changed it’s name to Banco Real and later started other financial companies that would make up Conglomerado Financeiro Real. When Clemente Faria died, his son, doctor Aloysio de Andrade Faria, took control of a part of the family businesses – the other part, which corresponds to the now extinct Banco Bandeirantes, was given to his brother, Gilberto Faria. In 1998, Banco Real’s stock control was sold to Dutch bank ABN Amro Bank for 2.1 billion dollars and the financial companies that remained under the group’s control formed the Conglomerado Alfa.

In the communication sector, the group owns Rede de Rádio Transamérica and TV Transamérica. The radio network (Rede de Rádio) is one of the largest FM networks in the country and was thus organized through an affiliate system. Some affiliates have ties with politicians. It is the case in Roraima, where the station belongs to Grupo Macaraí de Comunicação, owned by Geilda Cavalcanti, wife of former senator Mozarildo Cavalcanti (ex-PTB), and by the son of former federal deputy Luciano Castro (PR). There are also ties with senator Romero Jucá (PMDB). In Rio Grande do Sul, media companies owned by the group are run by Élio Spanhol, vice mayor candidate in Erechim in 2016.