| Unibanco is controlled by Unibanco Holdings, owner of 59.4% of the group's total
equity. This structure, devised and implemented in 1994, allowed the bank to raise
the necessary funding to conduct its growth programs and acquisitions. Stock dividends
from both companies are virtually identical, due to the conjunction of three factors:
 The
number of Unibanco Holdings and Unibanco's shares outstanding is exactly the
same.
Dividends
received from Unibanco are Unibanco Holdings' sole source of cash.
Unibanco
Holdings distributes 100% of the dividends it receives, net of legal reserves
(please refer to Dividend Policies).
In February 2005, two of Unibanco's major strategic partners, Commerzbank and
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro sold, through a secondary offer, 45,897,387 Units,
representative of 7.2% of Unibanco's preferred shares and 8.9% of Unibanco Holdings'
preferred shares. Since the offer's completion, Commerzbank and BNL are no longer
partners in Unibanco. The offering included an additional 4,177,661 Units supplementary
greenshoe lot from BNL, equivalent to up to 10% of the originally offered Units
(41,719,726).
The deal amounted to R$718 million, at a price of R$15.65 per Unit, 9.09% were
sold to individual investors and the balance was acquired by institutional investors.
The transaction was restricted to the domestic market, resulting in increased
liquidity for the Units at Bovespa. The Units free float rose by 70.3% in Brazil
and by 11.5% in total, as compared to December 2004.
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