Brazilian wane

UBS is all done dancing the samba. Three years after committing $3.1bn to buy Banco Pactual, the Swiss group is beating a full retreat and selling the Brazilian investment bank back to its original owner. The short-term merits of the U-turn make sense. But the healthy sale price might not fully compensate UBS for the longer-term cost to its private bank. The exit completes the rewind of a bizarre chapter in UBS history. In May 2006, UBS bought Pactual as a “cornerstone” of its emerging-market st...