Equifax is based in Atlanta, with some 2,500 employees in the city. Overall, the company has 14,000 employees across 24 countries.

Equifax Inc. this month closed on a previously announced acquisition of Brazil’s Boa Vista Serviços, a deal that will give the Atlanta-based credit rating agency deeper exposure to South America’s largest country. 

Equifax bought the company for 8 Brazilian reais per outstanding share, which came out to R$3.1 billion ($640 million based on exchange rates as of Aug. 2). 

Boa Vista now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equifax do Brasil, which itself is 80 percent owned by Equifax Inc. Associação Comercial de São Paulo and other former Boa Vista shareholders own the remaining 20 percent of the Brazilian subsidiary.

Boa Vista will retain its CEO, Márcio Fabbris, while former Equifax Inc. interim CEO Paulino Barros, who also previously served as Equifax’s company’s Asia president, will join the Equifax do Brasil board of directors. Mr. Barros also previously served on the board of Boa Vista. 

“The combination of our companies marks an exciting new global chapter for both Equifax and Boa Vista Serviços customers and employees, expanding the Equifax International footprint in the large and fast-growing $2 billion Brazilian total addressable market,” said Mark Begor, Equifax Inc.’s CEO, in a news release. 

He noted that Equifax has made 14 acquisitions since 2021 as the company continues to expand into new industry verticals beyond traditional consumer credit rating and scoring. The Boa Vista acquisition gives the company a trove of new data that will inform that process in Brazil. 

The company has migrated its IT infrastructure to the cloud, enabling the company to “scale and adapt for the specific needs of the countries in which we operate,” said Lisa Nelson, president of international at Equifax. “At the same time, we’re focused on bringing more of our existing Equifax enterprise strengths into our international regions.” 

The Equifax Cloud gives lenders and service providers real-time access to 4 billion records and promises quicker performance and better security, according to the company. 

Equifax estimates that Brazil, a country of 207 million people, has 34 million unbanked or underbanked consumers.  

As managing editor of Global Atlanta, Trevor has spent 15+ years reporting on Atlanta’s ties with the world. An avid traveler, he has undertaken trips to 30+ countries to uncover stories on the perils...