Since BTG’s inception in September 2008, its founding partners, Andre Esteves, former global head of UBS fixed income, and Persio Arida, former central bank governor of Brazil, have made clear their ambitions. Within six months, the investment group had acquired Via Brasil, a distressed gas station chain, London asset management firm Lentikia Capital and signed a partnership deal with Estapar, Brazil’s largest parking facility managers. The group also took a profit when it bought, stripped and sold Lehman Brothers’ Brazilian operations.
But the jackpot in this growing empire came in April when UBS sold its Brazilian operation, UBS Pactual, to BTG. Esteves, a former partner of Banco Pactual who made his fortune when UBS bought the bank, finally had it back. The newly created BTG-Pactual will consist of an investment bank in Brazil, a broker-dealer and an asset management business in New York, and the existing Hong Kong and London asset management platforms.