Evercore Wealth Management scoops up Morse Williams & Co.

Evercore Wealth Management, a unit of investment bank Evercore Partners Inc., said last week that it plans to buy Morse Williams & Co., a New York investment adviser with $190 million in assets under management and an expertise in equity investment management.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The move fits in with Evercore Wealth Management’s plans to “grow in a very smart way,” said Chris Zander, a partner and wealth adviser at the firm who is the former head of U.S. Trust Corp.’s multifamily-office group. He founded the firm in 2008 with Evercore president and chief executive Jeffrey Maurer, who is a former chief executive and chairman of U.S. Trust.

Evercore Wealth Management, which has been open to clients for about a year, recently reached $1.5 billion in assets and plans to grow organically and through acquisitions.

“We expect to be at $5 billion in five years,” Mr. Zander said.

The deal with Morse Williams doesn’t move the needle on assets much, but it does add to Evercore’s investment expertise, he said in an interview. Evercore Wealth Management employs a hybrid model, offering clients some investments in-house, such as certain classes of fixed income, and large-cap-value and growth stocks, and going outside to other managers for others.

Robert P. Morse, chief executive and chief investment officer at Morse Williams, has more than 30 years of investment experience, specializing in growth stocks and fixed income, according to the firm’s website. Other members of the firm have similar backgrounds and expertise.

Morse Williams “fits in very nicely with our equity investment team,” Mr. Zander said.

Morse Williams has eight empployees, seven of whom will join Evercore, according to Mr. Morse.

Mr. Morse, who founded his company in 1981, will become a partner at Evercore.

He and his firm will bring 75 relationships, including families and foundations, to Evercore. Each of those client groups has at least $2 million in assets.

Although Evercore requires a minimum of $5 million in assets under management, Morse Williams clients won’t be affected, Mr. Morse and Mr. Zander said.

“So far, clients have been supportive,” Mr. Morse said, adding that he is pleased to join Evercore.

“They’re very good people,” he said. “They have good integrity, good performance and good depth.”

Asked to elaborate on plans for growth, Mr. Zander emphasized that Evercore, which is in New York and San Francisco only, will continue to expand in a careful way, paying less attention to assets and geographic location than to cultural fit. They will, however, look for opportunities and leverage where Evercore Partners already has a presence, he said.

“We will very selectively find firms and individual advisers who match our culture,” Mr. Zander said.

“We’ll be more focused on what would be complementary to our platform,” he said. “It’s going to be careful, selective and targeted.”

E-mail Hilary Johnson at [email protected].

Related Topics: Mergers and Acquisitions, Wealth Management