The story
In December 2009, Grupo Pão de Açúcar purchased Casas Bahia and transferred its retail units to Globex Utilidades SA, Ponto Frio's parent company which was purchased by the group in June earlier that year.
From the following year, it began operating Nova Pontocom, an e-commerce company that reached an 18% market share in Brazilian online retail. In early 2012, Globex Utilidades officially changed its corporate name to Via Varejo.
In May 2013, it was announced that the Klein family is planning to sell as much as R$ 2 billion (16%) worth of their stake in the company through an IPO. 53.7 million common shares of the family's stake began trading on December 16, 2013.
Through the public offering of shares, Via Varejo raised R$ 2.845 billion, with three-quarters of the amount transferred to the Klein family and the remainder to GPA.
Ownership of the company has changed to GPA with 43.3%, the Klein family with 27.3%, and minority shareholders with 29.3%.
In October 2013, it was announced that Via Varejo will acquire the remaining 75% stake of Móveis Bartira, an exclusive provider of furniture for Casas Bahia and Ponto Frio, founded by Samuel Klein in 1962.
In June 2014, Cnova Brazil, a global e-commerce company with a total gross merchandise volume of $4.9 billion, was created through a joint venture between Casino, GPA, Via Varejo and Exito. Cnova Brazil will be directly owned 46.5% by Casino (including its subsidiary Exito) and 53.5% indirectly by GPA, Via Varejo and certain founding shareholders of Nova Pontocom.
In June 2019, it was announced that the Klein family became the largest shareholder of Via Varejo with a 27% stake, after GPA sold its entire stake. On September 20, 2023, the company rebranded to Grupo Casas Bahia.
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In August 2025, it was announced that Mapa Capital acquired R$1.6 billion in debt from the group and converted it into shares. This made it its largest shareholder, with an 85% stake.
In August 2026, Casas Bahia filed for bankruptcy after reporting further losses in Q2 2026, reportedly losing 10.1 billion reais (US$1.92 billion) in 2026. As a result, the company immediately closed 298 stores while it tries to secure a way to restructure its debt.
From Wikipedia’s article on Grupo Casas Bahia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5