Today, EFG International, a Swiss asset manager, acquired BTG Pactual’s Swiss private bank arm BSI for USD 1.33 billion. The sale came less than two years after BTG Pactual acquired BSI from Italy’s Generali Group for USD 1.7 billion.

The transaction comes just a few months after BTG Pactual sold in December l its distressed debt unit Recovery do Brasil Consultoria to ItaúUnibanco for USD 300 million. BTG Pactual is scrambling to maintain liquidity after it took a major hit last year following the arrest of its former CEO Andre Esteves in connection to the Petrobras scandal that still rages on in Brazil. Today we saw the Federal Police going after the head political campaigner of Dilma Rousseff on suspicion that he received dirty money in offshore accounts. Esteves resigned from his position and is awaiting trial while BTG Pactual tries to get back on track.

Source: The New York Times, February 23 2016