Evercore Inc. is considering calling off an exclusive tie-up on mergers and acquisitions advisory services with Indian billionaire Uday Kotak’s investment banking unit, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as the boutique advisory firm seeks to bolster its presence in Asia’s third-largest economy.
(Bloomberg) — Evercore Inc. is considering calling off an exclusive tie-up on mergers and acquisitions advisory services with Indian billionaire Uday Kotak’s investment banking unit, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as the boutique advisory firm seeks to bolster its presence in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The US company is weighing opening its own office in the country in order to free itself from the restrictions of its deal with Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is not public.
Evercore partnered with Kotak in 2011, constraining it from working with anyone else to provide M&A advisory services on cross-border transactions between clients in India and the US, the UK and Mexico.
A standalone India business for Evercore would be in line with the strategy pursued by rivals including Jefferies Financial Group Inc. which has been working on building a local M&A advisory business. Such firms have been lured by relatively robust deal volumes at a time when the business elsewhere slowed to a crawl. The country sealed its busiest deal making year ever with about $191 billion worth of transactions in 2022, bucking a global slump in activity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The boutique firm’s plans for India are not yet finalized and it could still decide to continue the tie-up with Kotak Mahindra Capital for the time being, the people said. South Korea and Australia are the other two countries in Asia Pacific where Evercore has a presence through affiliates, its website shows. The firm has its own teams in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
Kotak and Evercore continue “to collaborate and leverage our respective expertise to provide best-in-class advisory services to our clients” as of now, a spokesman for the Mumbai-based company said in an email. A spokesman for Evercore didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
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