Corinthians candidate reveals firm pledging $1bn investment | OneFootball

On the evening of Thursday, the 21st, André Castro, a triennial councilor and candidate for president of Corinthians in the internal elections of the Deliberative Council (CD) to be held this Monday, the 25th, held a press conference where he presented the name of the company that, according to a letter presented during the event, promises to invest up to US$ 1 billion (about R$ 5.4 billion) in the club.

This is Grupo São Paulo, presented in the letter as GSP Banco de Fomento Mercantil Ltda., which operates under the trade names GSP Bank of Assets and GSP Gestão de Crédito. The document presented is signed by the company's CEO, Carlos Cesar Arruda, and contains only one page, beginning with an explanation about the financial institution’s “internal and external operations” and expressing interest in establishing a “strategic partnership” with Corinthians. The initiative, however, is exclusively conditioned on the election of André Castro.

Photo: Reproduction/YouTube

The text continues, stating that the bank would commit to “providing a financial investment of up to US$ 1,000,000,000.00 (one billion dollars)” if the councilor takes office as president. The money would be allocated to the “structural and institutional strengthening of the club,” as well as mentioning issues such as the modernization of the Neo Química Arena and “strategic initiatives already being jointly developed” in other areas such as marketing, youth categories, and professional football – without, however, specifying any of these initiatives.

The letter also claims that these projects were “previously discussed and structured over a considerable period,” and maintains that this “gives the institution the confidence to proceed with the investment plan under the leadership of André Castro.” Additionally, it states that “at the appropriate time,” other companies in the group will be incorporated into the project, without specifying a date but affirming that it would only occur after Castro takes office as president.

Also noteworthy was the display of two seals at the bottom of the letter, linking GSP to B3 (São Paulo Stock Exchange) and ANNA (Association of National Numbering Agencies) – the latter brings together entities authorized to generate the ISIN (“International Securities Identification Number”), which codes financial securities under an international standard. However, a search on the B3 website found no company linked to GSP, and furthermore, the only Brazilian company affiliated with ANNA is B3 itself.

During the interview, the candidate did not explain his relationship with the GSP Group, stating that the project initiative came from him when he approached the company and denying that he would receive any kind of commission if the partnership were finalized. He also maintained that this is not the only company he has approached: there would still be “Plan B, C, and D,” in his words. But who is the GSP Group and its CEO Carlos Cesar Arruda?

Gaps and inconsistencies

The Central do Timão began its research on the official website of GSP Holding, which defines the group as “a 100% Brazilian company, with great pride,” listing various principles and values. There are some gaps in information, however: the company’s CNPJ is not displayed in the website footer, and the links that should redirect to Arruda’s profile and his letters of recommendation are broken.

The website also displays the profile of a branch of the group called Instituto GSP, coordinated by Gilka Aparecida Ferreira, whose purpose is to “support projects aimed at improving the quality of life of human beings of any age or creed.”

The company also explains its corporate governance, detailing a structure formed by the General Assembly, Board of Directors, Audit Committee, Fiscal Council, and Executive Board. The site does not, however, provide the names of the members of these groups.

In its “National” tab, the site displays 11 subdivisions of the GSP group: Agribusiness, Environmental, Antiques, Autocar, Development Bank, Bank, Commodities, Construction, Holding, Mining, and Trading. However, it is notable that only the Agribusiness, Environmental, Construction, Mining, and Trading subgroups have valid links with their own content. The Commodities subgroup leads to a pdf file on the subject, and the others direct to non-existent pages or to the site’s “home.”

In the “International” tab, four more subgroups are listed: Bolivia, Investments, London, and Turkey. However, none of them direct to a specific page about the subsidiary. In addition, a search in the UK Government’s Company Search Service showed that GSP Fomento Mercantil London, founded on April 17, 2018, was dissolved on November 3, 2020, almost five years ago (see below).

Photo: Reproduction

Meanwhile, the “News” and “Events” tabs have no registered text, and the “Success Stories” tab contains five short videos, reporting investments in corn planting, school construction, and mining. There is, however, no indication of invested amounts, nor dates, locations, or beneficiaries of the projects.

Finally, after 10:30 pm, the company’s website began displaying a pop-up with text similar to the letter signed by Arruda and shown by Castro, reinforcing the supposed commitment to the financial investment with Corinthians in case the councilor is elected (see below).

Photo: Reproduction

Inactive social media

The research on social media was mainly carried out by the Estatísticas Corinthianas page on X (formerly Twitter) and checked by Central do Timão, which confirmed that the group’s profiles are, at the very least, quite discreet. On Instagram, for example, two profiles created in April 2020 were identified: GSP Banco, with 201 followers, and GSP Holding, with 71 followers. Both contain the same two posts and are currently private.

On Facebook, only GSP Holding has a profile, with 58 likes and exactly 19 posts, most of them promoting website updates or honoring employees. On its Google page, the company had only one negative review (one star out of five) until, in the 24 hours before the press conference, another 13 reviews were published, all giving the company the highest rating.

On LinkedIn, the well-known corporate social network, there are no records of a profile for GSP Holding or GSP Bank. Arruda has a profile, but without a photo or further details of his professional activity or posts about the companies. Finally, Reclame Aqui has a page with four complaints about GSP Bank, only one of which was answered five years ago.

Photo: Reproduction

Finances

A search on the Goiás Board of Trade website found 25 records (some repeated) of companies under Carlos César Arruda’s CPF, one of which is GSP Gestão de Crédito e Desenvolvimento Mercantil Ltda (CNPJ 12.996.538/0001-87), whose trade name is GSP Bank of Assets. This is the company mentioned in the document presented by André Castro this Thursday.

On the Federal Revenue website, GSP Bank lists its main activity as “Mercantile development companies – factoring.” It is important to note, however, that factoring does not constitute banking activity, and therefore companies engaged in it are not regulated by the Central Bank.

Because of this, a factoring company could not, in theory, present itself as a bank. The main difference is that while a bank intermediates finances by raising funds from the public and lending to third parties, a factoring company only works with its own resources in the purchase of receivables.

It was also found that GSP Bank was registered on December 3, 2010, and although it declares a share capital of R$ 6.57 billion, it is classified as a small company, with a total number of employees between 10 and 49 and annual revenue between R$ 240,000 and R$ 2.4 million.

Photo: Reproduction

Legal proceedings

The editorial team also consulted the PROJUDI system of the Court of Justice (TJ) of Goiás, where the company is headquartered, which returned 22 cases against Arruda, three of them under judicial secrecy, as well as four cases against GSP Bank, one of which is also under judicial secrecy. However, it was not possible to access their contents.

In the e-SAJ system of the São Paulo Court of Justice, two other cases were found against Arruda, one for R$ 3 million related to commissions, and another for R$ 54,965.73 related to an eviction lawsuit filed against the businessman due to late rent payments – both are ongoing. There are no cases against GSP Bank in the state.

A case was also found against GSP Bank at the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf), judged on December 14, 2022. In it, the agency fined the company and its CEO R$ 10,000 and R$ 5,000, respectively, for the infraction of “Failure to report the absence of operations or proposals subject to communication to COAF while carrying out factoring activities.”

Read GSP’s statement in full

“We at GSP Banco de Fomento Mercantil Ltda, under the trade names GSP Bank of Assets and GSP Gestão de Crédito, a financial institution with internal and external areas of operation, hereby publicly express our interest in consolidating a strategic partnership with Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, conditioned on the election of candidate André Castro for the club’s presidency.

In the event of his election and inauguration, as described above, we commit to providing a financial investment of up to US$ 1,000,000,000.00 (one billion dollars) for the structural and institutional strengthening of the club. This investment will cover not only the financial restructuring and modernization of Arena Corinthians, but also a series of strategic initiatives already being developed jointly with the group, involving infrastructure, marketing, youth categories, professional football, and new revenue models.

It is worth noting that such projects have been discussed and structured for a considerable period, which gives the bank confidence to proceed with the investment plan under the leadership of André Castro, as predetermined.

Additionally, we inform that, at the appropriate time, other brands and companies linked to the group will also be presented to join the project, increasing the potential for value generation and long-term sustainability.

This commitment will be formalized in definitive legal instruments, subject to applicable legal and regulatory conditions, in compliance with the appointment of Mr. André Castro as president of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.”

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.