Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's biggest securities firm by market value, plans to add analysts, traders and fund managers in Brazil to gain clients in Latin America's largest economy, said two people with knowledge of the decision.

A team of about 10 analysts will be led by former UBS AG executive Stephen Graham, said the people, who declined to be identified before the new banking unit opens next week. Goldman also will add traders for stocks, bonds and derivatives. Peter Rose, a company spokesman in New York, declined to comment.

Goldman is following competitors such as UBS and Credit Suisse Group in Brazil, where share offerings tripled to $14 billion on the Sao Paulo exchange and corporate takeovers reached a record $80.2 billion last year amid rising exports and commodity prices. Goldman failed in 2005 to buy a stake in Banco Pactual SA, an investment bank based in Rio de Janeiro that was acquired by Zurich-based UBS last year.

Latin America is full of ``emerging investment opportunities'' so the expansion in Brazil makes sense, said Douglas Ciocca, who helps manage $650 million at Financial Advisory Services Inc. in Leawood, Kansas, and holds Goldman shares. Goldman's plans for Brazil were earlier reported by Exame, a weekly magazine in Brazil.

Mergers Outlook

Goldman unsuccessfully tried to buy or form a venture with Banco de Investimentos Garantia SA, Brazil's biggest investment bank, in 1998. Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank after UBS, ended up acquiring Garantia for $675 million. Goldman was the top-ranked adviser on mergers and acquisitions involving Brazilian companies for the past three years and placed ninth among equity underwriters in 2006 behind firms led by UBS and Credit Suisse, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Acquisitions involving Brazilian companies in 2007 may top last year's record, said Eduardo Centola, Goldman's co-head of Latin American investment banking, in an interview in January.

Goldman's operations in Latin America are overseen by New York-based Centola and Martin Werner, who works in Mexico City. Centola joined Goldman in 1999 from Merrill Lynch & Co. and Werner was hired a year later.