With founder Roger Altman, chairman of Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE:EVR),
giving up his CEO role, the firm brought in BlackRock Inc. co-founder Ralph Schlosstein as president and chief executive.
Schlosstein's new title is a familiar one given he was president of BlackRock for nearly two decades. Although Altman is handing off responsibilities to Schlosstein, as the press release puts it, "Altman will continue as full time chairman with an undiminished commitment to Evercore."
And signifying his commitment to the firm, Schlosstein became a partner in Evercore and bought $15 million of its equity.
Schlosstein and Altman have a few things in common. Both worked in the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981, and both worked at Lehman Brothers Inc. in the early 1980s. Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Schlosstein was a managing director in both investment banking and capital markets at Lehman. Before joining the Carter administration and working on Wall Street, Schlosstein was an economist for the Congressional Joint Economic Committee from 1974 to 1977.
Despite the downturn in dealmaking, Evercore has advised on some big deals this year. Most notably Evercore is currently advising Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) in its $68 billion buyout by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE). Additionally, Evercore is advising Frontier Communications Corp. in its $8.6 billion purchase of assets from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ). -
Baz HiralalFor more about this news, see The Deal Pipeline (subscription required).
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