Brazilians Bury Their Dogs Now, So Warburg Is Backing Pet Stores

When Piero Minardi was growing up in Brazil and a family dog died, it was simply tossed out with the rest of the trash. That’s what everybody did then, but few would think of doing so today.

That shift to a pet-friendly culture led Minardi and Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm with $44 billion under management, to invest in Brazil’s Petz stores, one-stop meccas for owners looking to pamper their poodles and Persians. The blindingly bright yellow outposts are sprouting up across Sao Paulo and the rest of the country, siphoning business from countless mom-and-pops.