BR Partners, the boutique investment bank founded by Ricardo Lacerda in 2009, is set for a year of rapid expansion, he tells Euromoney.
“Today we are about one-fiftieth the size of BTG Pactual. Hopefully we can grow to be between 5% and 10% …,” he says, trailing off. “That would be a long avenue for growth. So that’s what we’re focusing on.”
Lacerda has been pursuing a wealth management (WM) operation for BR Partners for years. The foundations for the business are in place and he anticipates significant hiring in the coming months. He has ambitious targets for revenues that will not just add to the bank’s top line but also provide important diversification into more stable revenue streams.
Lacerda is also surprisingly explicit about his plans for developing the bank’s equity capital markets (ECM) business. He insists no deal is yet in place to add equity distribution to the bank’s equity advisory capabilities – a prerequisite if the bank is to be a meaningful competitor for IPO and follow-on mandates – but he is mulling the acquisition of a Brazilian brokerage platform; something that will be of interest to competitors, given that equity issuance is tipped to resume with vigour next year.
