Reuters first with Banco do Brasil buy of Banco Votorantim stake

Reuters beat Dow Jones by 30 seconds and Bloomberg by more than 3 minutes on Jan. 9 with news that government-owned Banco do Brasil was buying a 50 percent stake in privately-held Banco Votorantim for 4.2 billion reais. Banco do Brasil shares surged nearly 4 percent and Votorantims bonds jumped on the news. The deal followed Banco do Brasils purchase of another state-bank in November and capped months of frenzied takeover activity in Brazil`s financial services industry.