One of the most interesting debates I’ve heard lately about this market is whether or not the increase in M&A activity is bullish. The bearish Doug Kass says it’s not and the ever-eBULLient Jim Cramer says it is. I’m not sure who is right. But I’ll tell you what is right: putting money on the focused, experienced deal-makers at Evercore Partners (EVR). This “boutique” investment bank—I’ve always loved that phrase, like it’s a shop on Fifth Avenue for the 1% (which it is I guess)—was founded in 1996 by current Chairman Roger Altman, a veteran of Wall Street and Washington. Altman served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury in the late 1970s and again in the ’90s and was head of M&A for Blackstone Group (BX) before launching his own firm on the premise that clients would be best served by an investment banking firm free of the conflicts of interest inherent to large, multi-product financial institutions. Kill the Traders and Other Distractions Altman believed that this pure advisory model, not distracted by proprietary trading and sell-side research, would serve clients the best and attract the most talented senior finance professionals to the firm. This is important because while M&A deals seem like quick cash grabs on the surface where big money simply has to make a deal that makes both sides richer, there is a lot more to Evercore’s business, including advising on divestitures, restructurings, specialized financings, public offerings, private placements and other strategic transactions. Special Offer: We asked some of the most successful investors in the country to name their #1 pick for 2013. Get details on their top 10 stocks in this free report, Forbes Top Stocks for 2013…10 to Buy Now. Though global M&A activity rebounded fairly strong in 2010 and 2011 after the financial crisis, Evercore was a slow starter. You can see from the Price & Consensus chart below that earnings estimates would start out rosy for each year 2010 through 2012, only to be taken down. And, of course, the stock price followed. But in late 2012, you can also see that story quickly began to change. Analyst consensus estimates made a dramatic turnaround on the heels of one of the company’s biggest deals ever, advising Kraft Foods on its $36 billion spin-off of Kraft Foods Group. And as corporate deal-making heated up in into the end of 2012, with average Wall Street deal premiums crossing 25%, profit projections for EVR got hotter too. In early December, they signed on to advise McMoRan Exploration in its interest to be acquired by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) for $3.2 billion. Evercore has now facilitated more than $1 trillion in transactions, including advising a special committee of Dell’s board of directors in the recent bid to take the company private. And one thing to remember about Evercore is that even if a deal doesn’t close, they still get paid advisory fees for their work. The firm also has a growing Investment Management Services division …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest