DCM Expert Launches LatAm Boutique

Enrique Bustamante, former head of Dresdner’s LatAm DCM, is setting up a new LatAm focused investment banking platform called Heritage Capital Latin America (HCLA). The bank will focus on fixed income capital markets and corporate finance, including advisory, M&A, liability management and restructuring, Bustamante tells LatinFinance. Bustamante left Dresdner Kleinwort in January of 2008 during a virtual shuttering of the German bank’s New York-based capital markets business. He began discussions with Heritage Capital, the London-based investment banking arm of Swiss private bank Banque Heritage last year, and is this month launching the LatAm practice. “We are in active hiring mode,” says Bustamante, noting his first priority will be bringing on a Brazil-focused banker with strong relationships. A similar relationship manager role in Mexico will be the next step, he adds. “Clients are suffering from lack of coverage,” says Bustamante. He notes that a general retrenchment on Wall Street has generated an opportunity for focused shops with good buyside relationships. HCLA will look to provide a full suite of investment banking services but will have to pick its shots. The shop will focus on fee-based services and is likely to target mid-cap corporates in Brazil and Mexico, says Bustamante. In countries like Peru and Colombia, HCLA may look to partner with local shops, though that is significantly farther down the line. Bustamante hopes to have a staff of up to 6 people by year-end 2009.