Evercore Said to Hire Maurer, U.S. Trust Wealth Management Team

Novemeber 18, 2008

By Anthony Effinger and Zachary R. Mider

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Evercore Partners Inc., the investment bank started by Roger Altman, hired former U.S. Trust Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Maurer to lead a push into wealth management, a person familiar with the situation said.

Maurer, 61, will oversee a team of eight from Bank of America Corp., now the owner of U.S. Trust, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the appointments haven't been announced.

The new group includes U.S. Trust executives Christopher Zander, head of a unit that advises wealthy families, and Jay Springer, who leads investment management in the middle-Atlantic states. Bank of America bought U.S. Trust from Charles Schwab Corp. for $3.3 billion in July 2007.

Altman, a former U.S. deputy Treasury secretary, is bolstering investment management to reduce Evercore's dependence on fees from advising companies on mergers and acquisitions. Corporate deals generated more than 90 percent of the New York- based firm's revenue in 2007. Since then, companies have announced $2.5 trillion of transactions, a 32 percent decline from the same period last year.

Altman, 62, told analysts on a July conference call that he planned to hire a team and start a wealth-management business. Kenneth Juarez, a spokesman at Evercore, said he couldn't comment yesterday.

"We continue to see a great deal of enthusiasm from top talent to join our firm,'' said Bank of America spokesman John Yiannacopoulos. "We're at historically low attrition rates.''

About 250 new employees who deal directly with clients have joined U.S. Trust since Bank of America bought the company, he said.

Neuberger Berman

Maurer joined U.S. Trust in 1970 and became CEO in 2001. He joined Lehman's Brothers Holdings Inc.'s Neuberger Berman Inc. asset-management unit in 2003 and left Lehman last year. Lehman filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15.

In addition to Zander and Springer, the executives hired by Evercore are: John Apruzzese, head of custom equity solutions at U.S. Trust; Karen Francois, head of the New York City trust team; and Charlie Ryan, an investment executive at U.S. Trust.

Three others come from Bank of America's Columbia Management unit: Gary Gildersleeve from fixed-income investments; Sandy Panetta, a fixed-income portfolio manager; and Jim Holihan, a fixed-income manager.

Gildersleeve, Panetta and Holihan worked at U.S. Trust before joining Columbia, according to regulatory filings.

Evercore, founded by Altman in 1996, has fallen 65 percent so far this year in New York trading. The shares dropped 15 cents to $7.57 yesterday. Shares of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, down 64 percent this year, fell $1.39 yesterday to $15.03.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anthony Effinger in Portland, Oregon, at aeffinger@bloomberg.net; Zachary Mider in New York zmider1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 17, 2008 22:11 EST