Antoine Estier said to be leaving BTG Pactual LLP after 80% cut in bonuses

Things have not been going well at Brazilian bank BTG Pactual. First, Andre Esteves, BTG's founder and chief executive was arrested last November, accused of trying to obstruct a corruption investigation. Then, BTG Pactual LLP - the bank's London-based hedge fund unit, was said to cut bonuses to some of its traders by 80%. Now, we understand that Antoine Estier, managing partner of BTG Pactual LLP, is leaving.

Both Estier himself and BTG declined to comment on the departure, which headhunters in London said is due to happen soon.

Estier joined BTG Pactual LLP from UBS in 2009 and hired a selection of proprietary traders from banks in London to work on the fund. Bloomberg suggested in January that BTG was thinking of ring-fencing its London hedge fund operations, before claiming earlier this month that BTG had slashed bonuses and was preparing a round of redundancies at the London trading arm.

The FCA Register suggests that any layoffs at BTG Pactual Europe LLP have yet to be finalized. The most recent departure was Adriano Borges, a BTG partner who seemingly went back to Brazil. William Royan, who was hired in 2014 to set up an equities arm at the fund, also left the London office in November. BTG Pactual Europe LLP currently has 66 registered staff.

One London fixed income headhunter, speaking off the record, said an "awful lot" of BTG's traders are being let go in London. "They had around 30-40 people here, but that's being trimmed down considerably."

Photo credit: Exit Sign by Sharat Ganapati  is licensed under CC BY 2.0.