By Brazil Stock Guide — Itaú Unibanco is bringing together the sports, media and entertainment operations of Itaú BBA and Itaú Private Bank as it seeks to expand its presence in businesses ranging from financing and mergers and acquisitions to wealth management for athletes and artists.
The new structure combines corporate banking, investment banking and private banking capabilities and will serve companies, investors, clubs, leagues, athletes, artists and content creators, according to information released by the bank.
Itaú BBA already serves hundreds of companies linked to these sectors and has added dedicated relationship managers, alongside specialists in credit, payments and other areas involved in transactions.
“As sports, media and entertainment increasingly consolidate themselves as an asset class of growing relevance to institutional investors, demand is also rising for more sophisticated financial and strategic solutions,” said Guilherme Ávila, head of Sports, Media & Entertainment at Itaú BBA.
According to Ávila, the bank aims to connect investors, operators and assets across these industries while increasing its participation in financial transactions tied to the sector.
One area of particular interest is Brazil’s football broadcasting rights market. According to Itaú BBA estimates, the market generated around R$5.4 billion in 2025, up from R$2.6 billion in 2019.
The bank estimates the market’s potential at between R$7.4 billion and R$12.4 billion. The calculation reflects the scope for greater monetization of sports rights in Brazil compared with other markets, as well as changes including the formation of commercial rights blocs, the arrival of new distribution platforms and the increasing professionalization of media-rights sales.
Itaú also sees opportunities in transactions involving clubs, leagues, commercial rights, events, music and intellectual property.
In private banking, the focus will be on the specific needs of athletes, artists and other professionals in the sector, including investment management, estate and succession planning, and cross-border wealth structures.
Itaú Private manages around R$1.2 trillion in assets, according to figures released by the bank. Roughly two-thirds of that wealth is held in Brazil and one-third abroad.
The bank says it has about a 32% share of Brazil’s private-banking market, rising to roughly 40% in São Paulo state.
The initiative does not mark Itaú’s entry into the segment. Itaú BBA already had a dedicated Sports, Media & Entertainment unit led by Ávila and had been participating in transactions and events linked to the business of sports.
The latest move deepens the integration between Itaú BBA’s corporate coverage and Itaú Private Bank’s wealth-management platform.
The strategy comes as financial investors increase their exposure to sports and entertainment assets, including Brazilian football clubs organized as SAFs, or corporate football entities, as well as broadcasting rights, intellectual property and content businesses.
With the integrated structure, Itaú is seeking to expand its role in lending, mergers and acquisitions, capital-markets transactions and wealth management across the sports, media and entertainment industries.
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