Votorantim S.A.

Investment activity is embedded within the parent holding company rather than housed in a separately branded family office. The holding exercises control through board seats on operating subsidiaries like Votorantim Cimentos and Nexa Resources, while a professional investment team reports to the CEO and board of the holding entity. This structure allows the Ermírio de Moraes family to reinvest subsidiary dividends into new direct investments without raising external limited-partner capital, maintaining unified governance across an unusually broad industrial and financial portfolio.

Banco Votorantim is a Brazilian financial institution jointly owned by Votorantim S.A. and Banco do Brasil, Brazil's largest state-controlled bank. The bank provides the group with an internal credit, trade-finance, and asset-management capability that complements its equity and real-asset holdings. This embedded banking arm enables the group to offer structured financing to its portfolio companies and to originate credit investments without relying on third-party banking relationships for every transaction.

Votorantim S.A. is a family-controlled holding company deploying the Ermírio de Moraes family's own capital. However, several of its major subsidiaries are publicly listed (Nexa Resources on the NYSE and TSX) or operate joint ventures with institutional partners — such as the energy JV with CPP Investments and Votorantim Cimentos' partnership with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in North American operations. Third-party capital enters at the subsidiary or project level, not through a commingled fund raised by the holding company.

The group's industrial DNA biases it toward tangible, long-cycle sectors — cement, metals, energy infrastructure, and pulp — that generate operational cash flows rather than speculative returns. It has no meaningful exposure to direct technology venture capital, consumer internet, or biotechnology, and has shown no appetite for the rapid-asset-turnover model typical of traditional private equity firms. The investment posture favors sectors where scale, operating expertise, and permanent capital confer structural advantages.

Major allocation decisions ultimately trace to the holding company's board of directors, chaired by Ermírio Pereira de Moraes, and the CEO, João Schmidt. The investment team at the holding level evaluates direct opportunities across private equity, credit, and infrastructure, typically in coordination with the relevant operating subsidiary when sector expertise is required. This dispersal of decision-making authority — across holding investment staff and subsidiary management teams — means investment governance is less centralized than at a standalone private equity firm.

Deal flow originates primarily through the group's operating subsidiaries, which provide visibility into supply chains, distressed competitors, and adjacent market opportunities across Brazil and Latin America. Banco Votorantim's corporate lending relationships generate additional proprietary origination for credit and structured-equity investments. The group's multidecade presence in Brazilian industry gives it an informal but deep network of family-owned business owners, government concession-holders, and multinational JV partners that external managers rarely replicate.

The group does not operate as a fund-of-funds or a limited partner in third-party private equity vehicles. Co-investments occur primarily through subsidiary-level joint ventures with strategic institutional partners — such as CPP Investments in energy and CDPQ in cement — rather than through passive LP interests. The preference is for operating partnerships where the group contributes industrial expertise and an aligned, permanent-capital balance sheet alongside a financial sponsor's capital.