Boutique investment bank shares suffer in US as Brexit dampens M&A prospects
Boutique investment bank share prices are tumbling in the US with the UK’s Brexit expected to slow mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity.
Evercore Partners’ share price fell 12 per cent on Friday after the EU referendum result emerged, and in the early afternoon on Monday it was down another 12 per cent at $41.30.
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Evercore chief executive Ralph Schlosstein told Bloomberg: “Uncertainty always slows down M&A activity… because what happens is the price that buyers are willing to pay for companies weakens a little bit because there’s more risk and more uncertainty. And the sellers of businesses look at last week’s price and say well we can’t take a discount from that.”
Like big banks on both sides of the Atlantic and challenger banks in the UK, Evercore’s boutique rivals have also suffered.
Read more: What Brexit means for UK M&A: Experts expect further drop in activity
Lazard experienced an 11 per cent fall at the end of last week and was also down 12 per cent on Monday afternoon to $27.43.
Meanwhile, Greenhill and Co’s share price was down 11 per cent to $16.30 on Monday afternoon following a 10 per cent drop on Friday.
Moelis and Co was also down 10 per cent on 24 June and a further seven per cent to $22.57 on Monday.