(Reuters) May 27, 2011 – British foreign exchange company Travelex has agreed to buy Brazilian peer Grupo Confidence, as part of Travelex’s plans to expand into fast-growing emerging markets.

Travelex did not disclose how much it had paid for Grupo Confidence, but added that the Brazilian company had 2010 revenues of 36.4 million pounds ($58.01 million) and a pretax profit of 6.3 million.

Travelex said Brazil’s retail foreign exchange market was currently worth around $17 billion and was expected to grow, helped by events such as hosting the 2014 soccer World Cup.

Travelex is majority-owned by private equity company Apax. ($1=.6274 Pound)

By Sudip Kar-Gupta