Gordon Lee, Marcello Milman & team BTG Pactual

The buy side says: “They have tremendous scope and depth.”

Leading the lineup in this newly added sector is the four-strong BTG Pactual squad co-headed by New York–based Gordon Lee, 39, and São Paulo–based Marcello Milman, 31; they also captain the team ranked No. 1 in Cement & Construction. Lee, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, joined the firm in February from UBS. Milman arrived one in May 2011 from Credit Suisse; he has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. The team currently follows six real estate companies and intends to increase coverage. Clients applaud a December upgrade of Brazil’s Iguatemi Empresa de Shopping Centers from sell to neutral, at 35.76 reais, mainly on valuation. In May, after the stock had already grown to 39.70 reais, they raised it to buy on its strong cash flow and as a likely beneficiary of cuts in the benchmark Selic interest rate. Shares of the São Paulo–based mall operator kept climbing, reaching 40.80 reais by mid-July. The analysts are also bullish on Brazil-based shopping center operator BR Malls Participações, largely on the strength of robust consumer spending. — Ben Mattlin