G.E. de Bueno Vidigal; Led 22nd-Largest Bank in Brazil
Gastao Eduardo de Bueno Vidigal, 82, chairman and the biggest shareholder of Banco Mercantil de Sao Paulo, died Tuesday in the Brazilian city.
His death caused Mercantil’s shares to soar on speculation that a possible sale to Citigroup Inc. may be accelerated. Vidigal, a lawyer, was the son of Gastao Vidigal, the founder of Banco Mercantil, Brazil’s 22nd-largest bank in terms of assets. Consultants have said Vidigal was stalling the sale.
He started working in Mercantil in 1939 and became its chairman in 1980. In 1958, he founded Financiadora Nacional, or Finasa, one of the country’s largest consumer credit companies.
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