André Esteves

André Santos Esteves (born July 12, 1968) is a Brazilian billionaire businessman.

Among Brazilian billionaires, Esteves is ranked sixth with a net worth of US$6.6 billion, according to Forbes business magazine, as of October 2023.

He currently serves as senior partner and chairman at BTG Pactual, the biggest investment bank in Latin America.

As a philanthropist he is a board member of Conservation International, Inteli and Council on Foreign Relations.

In 1992, Esteves made a partner for helping the bank "to post a 59 percent return on capital".

André Esteves is the owner of Fazenda Rio Negro, which in 2001 was granted the title of Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) by the government of Mato Grosso do Sul for having several endangered species such as the giant otter, the marsh deer, and the hyacinth macaw.

The property was also a filming location for the Brazilian TV series Pantanal.

In 2021, he founded the Institute of Technology and Leadership (Inteli) with Roberto Sallouti, with the aim of providing higher education for students in the field of Technology, with emphasis on Computing, Business, and Leadership.

Esteves and his family sponsored the initiative with a donation of US$38 million.

André Esteves made a significant personal donation to Harvard Business School, in order to renovate the former Baker Hall, located on the campus of Harvard University; now renamed as Esteves Hall, in honor of him.

This Harvard dormitory is used by the School's Executive Education programs, which annually attract some 10,000 executives from around the globe, many from Esteves' home country, Brazil.

BTG Pactual, bank in which André Esteves is chairman and senior partner, offers advisory services in merger transactions and acquisitions, equity, debt underwriting, asset management, wealth management, sales and trading, loans and financing (corporate lending) and fund management for clients including corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth people.

Approximately 70% of the company is owned by its partners, fostering an alignment of long-term interests with its stakeholders.

The bank is also active in proprietary investments (both class of net assets as of non-liquid assets).

It is recognized as one of the leading investment banks in emerging markets, the largest independent investment bank and the largest asset manager in Brazil.

UBS purchased Pactual in December 2006, and in June 2008, Esteves left the bank along with key Brazilian partners to create BTG, a global investment company.

Italy’s Consob did this because, they said, that "the 43-year-old Latin American banker bought the shares in November 2007 knowing that the group was planning to enter a joint venture with Brazilian rival JBS."

This case was closed and there was no impact to the public offering.

In April 2009, Esteves, along with other partners, purchased Pactual back from UBS for US$2.5 billion.

He discussed these events an interview for the Creating Emerging Markets project at the Harvard Business School.

Esteves arrives at his office as early as 6:30 AM and "often calls partners together for meetings as late as 10:00 p.m."

He also holds regular study meetings with BTG Pactual directors at his home.

James Crombie of LatinFinance writes that "Esteves supports education and environmental charities".

In addition, André Esteves is a member of the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He has also supported initiatives, projects, and institutions that aim to improve education, healthcare, and promote the arts in Brazil.

Institutions like the Universidade de São Paulo, the "Hospital de Câncer de Barretos" and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo are among those supported by Esteves.

In April 2012, André Esteves was fined €350,000 for insider trading in Italy and officials "also froze €4.2 million of Mr. Esteves's personal assets and barred him from acting as an officer in an Italian company for six months."

In 2012, penalties for André Esteves' insider trading "force[d] the bank to amend its prospectus, give investors the option to reconsidering bids for BTG shares, and put a cloud over one of this year's highest-profile bank deals."

In 2015, Esteves was accused of obstructing justice.

In July 2018, after the Federal Public Ministry declared his innocence, he was acquitted by the Federal Court.

At a meeting on April 29, 2022, the shareholders of the bank reappointed Esteves as board chairman.

André Esteves was born into a middle-class family in Rio de Janeiro, and obtained his bachelor's degree in computer science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Esteves has three children, and The New York Times writes that "he has driven the same Mercedes pickup for four years and takes only two weeks of vacation a year", though he also owns a Dassault Falcon private jet worth US$50 million.

When interviewed about his downtime, "Esteves professes a love of his job, though he also enjoys cinema, wine and good food."

After graduating from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, André Esteves joined Pactual and within "a year he was a member of the bank's foreign debt trading team, and within two he was managing IPOs and M&A deals."

In April 2020, Esteves and other partners of BTG Pactual announced a donation of 50 million Brazilian reais for COVID-19 pandemic combat projects in Brazil.

Esteves is also known for his pro-environment activities, most of them in private.

He is a board member at Conservation International and played an active role supporting the Amazonia Live program, a project to plant one million trees, in partnership with one of the biggest music festivals of the world, Rock in Rio.

He is part of the 5P Alliance, a group of entrepreneurs, bankers, and doctors who are working on their own to ensure the conservation of the Pantanal biome by acquiring farms in the region to preserve them.

The goal is to create large ecological corridors and keep the biome as the most preserved in the country.