BTG Pactual began in 1983 in Rio de Janeiro as the brokerage firm Pactual DTVM, when its initial and primary activity was proprietary trading and securities sales and trading. In 1986, the asset management and investment bank areas were created. In 1989, the bank opened its São Paulo's office and started the internationalization of operations. Eleven years after the foundation, the bank started the wealth management activities. In 1998, the company replaced its executive officers with a team led by
André Esteves, Eduardo Plass, Marcelo Serfaty and Gilberto Sayão, and acquired Banco Bamerindus. In 2000, the bank opened Pactual Asset Management S.A. DTVM and an office in Cayman Islands. In 2003, the expansion continued with offices in
Belo Horizonte and
Recife. In 2006, the
UBS bought Banco Pactual for US$2.5 billion and created UBS Pactual, André Esteves became CEO of all UBS' Latin American operations. Two years later, Esteves left the bank to found BTG (
Banking and
Trading
Group ) Investments with nine other founding partners of UBS and UBS Pactual, including
Pérsio Arida, a former president of the
Brazilian Central Bank. In 2009, BTG bought out UBS shareholders and created Banco BTG Pactual. The following year the bank issued US$1.8bn in capital, representing 18.65%, to a group of international investors and partners. In 2011, they acquired 51.00% of Banco PanAmericano shares. In 2012, BTG Pactual bought brokerages in Chile and Colombia, Celfin Capital and Bolsa y Renta, and held an
initial public offering (IPO) raising R$3.65 billion, making it one of the 20 biggest companies listed on the
B3. In 2013, the bank, through its subsidiary BTG Pactual Timberland Investments Group LLC, acquired forest asset management contracts from Regions Timberland Group, a division of Regions Bank, the acquisition expanding its investment in forest assets. The deal established BTG Pactual as the biggest independent forest asset manager in Latin America and one of the biggest in the world, with assets of US$3bn and a portfolio of 716,000 hectares of land in North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa. In 2014, it made two acquisitions in Europe: British reinsurer
Ariel Re bought for an undisclosed amount, and also Swiss bank
BSI, for US$1.7 billion. In 2017, BTG Pactual bought shares of companies such
Anheuser-Busch InBev,
Fibria Celulose,
Gerdau,
Staples and
Telefónica Brasil. == Structure ==