Awards for Excellence 2016
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Advisory has been the cornerstone of BR Partners, the winner of the best advisory award in Latin America, since its inception, when Ricardo Lacerda (previously of Citi and Goldman Sachs in Brazil) saw the need for an independent investment bank. The vision is larger than just advisory however, and the bank is steadily building its capital markets platforms to compete in distribution and other services essential for winning new business.
BR Partners’ progress to date has been remarkable. It has grown revenues and personnel – with more than 90 professionals sourced from a roll-call of the top tier: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Credit Suisse, as well as the leading local competitors. The firm has grown revenues by a compound annual growth rate of 27.6% since 2010. Last year, amid difficult economic conditions, BR Partners posted a return on equity of 18.5%.
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Ricardo Lacerda, |
A review of the bank’s last 12 months of client work shows why BR Partners wins the award. In M&A, the bank has used the independence and the experience of its bankers to win some of the region’s most prestigious mandates. Groupe Casino – just one of the bank’s bluechip investors, a strategic ownership model that brings a new meaning to relationship banking – brought the bank in to advise it on the sale of stakes in supermarket chains Grupo Pao de Acucar (Brazil) and Libertad (Argentina) to Grupo Exito – the largest deal in the Brazilian and Argentinian food retail sectors. It also advised Hypermarcas on the sale of its beauty and personal care business to Coty – the largest M&A deal in the Brazilian consumer-product sector in 2015 and the largest cross-border M&A deal involving Brazil. In 2015 BR Partners opened a financial restructuring advisory service.
The firm is not restricted to advising on restructuring, however. In 2013 the capital markets division, specializing in private placements, was established. Despite the challenging market conditions, the firm advised on R$400 million ($115 million) of highly customized and structured debt offerings that it sells to a selective list of investors including family offices. BR Partners also offers advisory to private equity, asset management (with currently R$2.5 billion of assets under management) and has built sales and trading desks in fixed income, FX and derivatives.
