Grupo Potencial wants to have its own bank to finance soybean producers
Biodiesel company in Paraná requested authorization from the Central Bank and plans to operate the bank from the second half of 2027, according to Estadão.
BY THE X-TRADER NEWS NEWSROOM · REPORTING FROM ESTADÃO · 2 MIN
Grupo Potencial, which produces biodiesel in Lapa, Paraná, and distributes fuels, is preparing to create its own bank to finance farmers. According to Estadão, the operation should begin in the second half of 2027, focusing on producers who will supply soybeans to the group's crushing plant.
Today, the group's nine companies are financed by a credit rights fund, according to the report. The institution itself appears in the plans as a step beyond this model, with an internal structure to grant credit throughout the chain.
Carlos Eduardo Hammerschmidt, vice-president of the company, treats soy as a bargaining chip for the industry. The logic he describes combines financing with the supply of raw materials: credit reaches the producer, and production supplies the group's unit.
The project depends on authorization from the Central Bank. The request has already been filed, and the company expects the license in six to seven months, according to Estadão. Until then, the bank only exists in plans, and any delay in the schedule postpones the scheduled start date of operations.
The group also intends to expand financial services and serve external customers. The point at stake is the relationship between credit and supply: when the lender also buys the production, the company gains predictability of raw materials and the producer gains access to financing, but both sides become more linked to the same chain.
What changes for the investor
The report does not inform financing amounts or whether the group has shares traded on the stock exchange, so the direct effect on prices cannot be measured with the available data. The movement is of interest to those who follow biodiesel, soybean crushing and rural credit, because it shows a company in the sector seeking to control more stages of the chain. The points to observe are the Central Bank's decision, the start date of operations and the eventual growth of the portfolio for customers outside the group.
Automatically translated from Portuguese.
