Few financial institutions illustrate more graphically the sweeping changes taking place in the global economy and the world financial order than BTG Pactual, the fast-growing Brazil-headquartered international investment bank and asset manager led by former UBS global fixed-income chief Andre Esteves.
The group is on a meteoric growth path – and its story is already a dramatic one. Back in 2006, Esteves – who was then the managing partner and 30% owner of Pactual, which at that point was solely a Brazilian bank (albeit already the country’s leading investment bank and wealth manager) – sold Pactual to UBS in a $3 billion deal that also saw him take charge of the Swiss bank’s fixed-income business.
Two years later he left UBS – along with some 15 of his top lieutenants – to set up the new BTG asset management group in mid-2008. One year later he bought back Pactual from the...