Boutique on the rise

Founded in 1996 by Blackstone and U.S. Treasury veteran Roger Altman, investment banking boutique Evercore Partners went public in August 2006 with an $82.9 million initial public offering. Its public debut was astonishing: Evercore's revenues increased 47 percent in 2006 while net income rose 80 percent. Since, the firm has grown into an elite investment bank and investment management firm, employing over 800 people. In the U.S., Evercore operates from offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, Minneapolis, the District of Columbia, and Waltham, Mass. Internationally, it has offices in Hong Kong; London and Aberdeen, U.K.; Toronto, Canada; and Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico. It also has alliances in Japan, China, Brazil, India, and South Korea. In 2011, Evercore acquired the European advisory firm Lexicon Partners, adding about 100 employees, including 65 bankers. Today, the firm's investment banking business includes corporate advisory (mergers and acquisitions, restructuring advisory, and capital raising), serving both public and private companies, with an emphasis on large multinational corporations. Recent M&A deals include International Paper's $4 billion acquisition of Temple-Inland, Southern Union's $9 billion merger with Energy Transfer, Exelon's $11 billion merger with Constellation Energy, AT&T's $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, and Lubrizol's $10 billion sale to Berkshire Hathaway. The firm is also involved in equity sales, trading, and research. And its investment management unit provides money managing services to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. Evercore is led by Roger Altman, its chairman, and Ralph Schlosstein, its president and CEO who previously co-founded and served as president for investment management giant BlackRock.