Latin Finance - July 2008 - (Page 8) People Esteves Bolts UBS André Esteves is leaving UBS, following a brief stint running global fixed income, to start a new global investment fund worth up to $3 billion. The former CEO and chairman of UBS LatAm – who was recently demoted from a global role after the Swiss bank scaled back its risk profile – is taking 12 former Pactual executives with him, following months of speculation of a split. UBS bought Pactual in 2006 amid great fanfare, but its Brazil-based staff swiftly became disenchanted with the move as the global bank became mired in subprime losses. The new fund, employing global EM hedge and private equity strategies, will target an initial raise of $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion, say people familiar with the initiative. Fundraising could begin by year-end. Esteves is joined by 12 former UBS Pactual staff, including Roberto Sallouti, an MD and head of fixed income for LatAm, as well as James Oliveira, a senior executive in UBS Pactual’s treasury group, which does prop trading. Most of the other departures are from the prop trading group, whose role was dramatically diminished following a decision at the UBS’s head office to reduce risk and focus purely on client-facing fixed income, say bank officials. Rodrigo Xavier, head of UBS Pactual’s asset management business, replaces Esteves as chairman and CEO of Brazil, while Juerg Haller becomes chairman and CEO of UBS LatAm. based in Atlanta, servicing clients in LatAm. And former Bear head of EM trading and senior MD Adam Groothuis, a veteran of the underserved CentAm and Caribbean secondary markets, also left JPMorgan, where he was employed for just two days. He is expected to reappear at Royal Bank of Scotland. Elsewhere, Alberto Bernal, former head of EM fixed income research at Bear Stearns, has joined Bulltick Capital Markets, the boutique investment bank. Merrill Poaches in Brazil, Promotes in Mexico Merrill Lynch has appointed Jose Ribeiro de Andrade to run fixed income commodities and currencies (FICC) sales, trading and structuring in Brazil. He joins as an MD in a high LatAm revenue producing department for Merrill and will also serve as head of product structuring for Brazil FICC. Ribeiro was previously structuring and products head at Citi in Brazil, focused on investment and derivatives products for FX, interest rate, commodities and credit for local and offshore clients. The appointment follows Merrill’s first quarter raid of a 10strong team of Brazil investment bankers from UBS Pactual. And in Mexico, Merrill named Alberto Ardura head of LatAm client coverage, a position he will take on in addition to his existing role as head of Mexico FICC. The job involves forming a team to support the bank’s largest LatAm clients across different countries and products, a responsibility which previously fell to different groups. JPMorgan Sees Bear Exodus The integration of Bear Stearns into JPMorgan was accompanied by the loss of several key LatAm staff, some of whom were said to have been upset by offers of less senior positions at the new shop. It appears that JPMorgan has failed in its quest to bolt Bear’s strong Caribbean franchise onto its existing LatAm presence. AJ Mediratta, former senior MD and head of international debt capital markets who was instrumental in building Bear’s Caribbean niche, left for New York-based hedge fund Greylock Capital. Mediratta takes a senior MD role at his new buyside home, where he is overseeing a new LatAm dedicated private equity vehicle focused on high yield project investments. The fund targets a $400-$500 million raise and should roll out in the fourth quarter, Mediratta tells LatinFinance. Greylock has $1.2 billion under management. Meanwhile, Bear’s head of research Carl Ross has joined integrated financial services holdings company Oppenheimer, as an MD at its Atlanta International subsidiary. He will work with managing director Greg Fisher, Credit Suisse Picks Two to Replace Chatel Credit Suisse has replaced Sebastien Chatel – former MD and head of ECM who left for Merrill Lynch in March – with two executives who will oversee LatAm new issuance and origination efforts. Rafael Pagano, a São Paulo-based vice president, will run Brazil ECM. Jacob Alvarez was hired from Citi, also as a vice president, to do non-Brazil ECM. Both will report to Jeff Bunzel, head of Americas ECM. In Brazil, Pagano will be competing head-to-head with Chatel, who will be based in Merrill’s São Paulo office with a mandate to lure new issuers including SMEs to the equity markets. LF UPDATE For daily news of people moves see www.latinfinance.com 8 LATINFINANCE July/August 2008 http://www.latinfinance.com
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