BRAZIL’S NEWEST INVESTMENT bank can already call on an impressive list of individuals to power it ahead. They include a former central bank governor (Persio Arida), a former chief executive of a global investment bank (Huw Jenkins), and Brazil’s youngest billionaire (Andre Esteves). With these three men at the helm at BTG Pactual, it’s not surprising the firm has ambitious plans to become a force not just in Brazil but also in the emerging markets generally.
With $2 billion in equity and $34 billion under management, it’s already the largest independent investment bank in the emerging markets. But the firm is committed to growth, with European and Asian links high on Esteves’s agenda.
In the past six months he has hired several senior executives from UBS to strengthen the firm’s capabilities, especially in capital markets. As well as Jenkins, a former chief executive of UBS Investment Bank, who joined in September, Esteves has signed Roberto Isolani, UBS’s former co-head of global capital markets, and Igor Hordiyevych, former head of CEEMEA debt capital markets at the Swiss bank. Other UBS bankers with expertise in trading G7 rates and emerging markets credit have also been hired.