Earnings Call Transcript - EVR Q4 2020

Operator, Operator

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to the Evercore Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. This call is being recorded today, Wednesday, February 3, 2021. I will now hand it over to Hallie Miller, Evercore's Head of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Hallie Miller, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Joelle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Evercore's fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results conference call. I'm Hallie Miller, Evercore's Head of Investor Relations. And joining me today on the call are Ralph Schlosstein and John Weinberg, our Co-Chairman and Co-CEOs; and Bob Walsh, our CFO. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing Evercore's fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results. The company's discussion of our results today is complementary to that press release, which is available on the website at evercore.com. This conference call is being webcast live in the For Investors section of our website, and an archive of it will be available for 30 days, beginning approximately one hour after the conclusion of this call. I want to point out that during the course of this conference call, we may make a number of forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements that we make, including those about COVID-19 and its effect on our business are subject to various risks and uncertainties and there are important factors that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Evercore's filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. I want to remind you that the company assumes no duty to update any forward-looking statements. In our presentation today, unless otherwise indicated, we will be discussing adjusted financial measures, which are non-GAAP measures that we believe are meaningful when evaluating the company's performance. For detailed disclosures on these measures and the GAAP reconciliations, you should refer to the financial data contained within our press release, which is posted on our website. We continue to believe that it is important to evaluate Evercore's performance on an annual basis. As we've noted previously, our results for any particular quarter are influenced by the timing of transaction closings. I’ll now turn the call over to Ralph.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Thank you very much, Hallie. And good morning to everyone. It's hard to believe that when we reported our 2019 earnings at this time last year everything was normal. Our team was energized and ready for the New Year. Our expectations were for another strong year and many of the analysts and investors on this call were probably looking forward to wrap up earnings season and attending investor conferences in Miami. The past 12 months however have been anything but normal. So please indulge me a brief review of the year. When faced in mid-March with two simultaneous crises, a global pandemic and the sharpest economic downturn in decades, our entire business and way of life were disrupted. Our clients' needs changed rapidly and many of their strategic initiatives, particularly their M&A plans were placed on hold. Corporate leaders and financial sponsors became focused almost exclusively on cost control, reducing capital spending, increasing liquidity, amending debt covenants and strengthening their balance sheets. And while most previously committed M&A transactions were completed, new strategic M&A activity essentially stopped. Later in the second quarter that fiscal and monetary stimulus stabilized the debt and equity markets, we helped clients capitalize on the opportunity to build liquidity and, in certain cases, to initiate large restructuring and recapitalization transactions. These balance sheet and liquidity-focused assignments drove demand for capital raising advice and execution in both the equity and debt markets, dominating our advisory services in the second quarter and into the beginning of the third quarter. As the third quarter evolved, strategic and M&A discussions began to resume. Despite the sharp decline in M&A activity, which lasted several months starting at the beginning of March, our revenues were essentially flat year-over-year through the first nine months. So how did this happen? First, over the last few years, we have made significant investments that have materially broadened the services that we can provide to our clients. We acquired ISI, which materially enhanced our research, underwriting and distribution capabilities. We greatly strengthened our restructuring team by adding five new Senior Managing Directors globally and dramatically enhanced our equity underwriting team. We enhanced our private capital raising capabilities for both sponsors and public and private companies. We strengthened our debt advisory capabilities. We added the best activist defense and shareholder engagement team in our entire industry, along with best-in-class capabilities in corporate restructuring, split-offs, spins, Morris Trust, reverse Morris Trust, etc., and best-in-class capabilities in SPAC capital raising and SPAC merger advice. So first the first nine months of 2020. We demonstrated that we have in place best-in-class capabilities to advise our clients in widely varied environments. And we demonstrated that our team has the talent and the entrepreneurial spirit to deploy these capabilities rapidly in support of our clients. In the latter half of 2020, the M&A market began to recover meaningfully. Global and US M&A volume increased 92% and 163%, respectively compared to the first half. And the number of global and US deals increased 18% and 16%, respectively. Still for the year, M&A volume was down 4% globally. And in the US, the largest M&A market for all firms and for Evercore particularly, M&A volume was down 21%. The recovery in M&A coupled with continued momentum in the broader advisory capabilities that I just described led to a spectacular fourth quarter by any measure and fueled the many records that we achieved as a firm in 2020. The point of this review is simple. In 2020, we proved that while M&A is still our largest source of revenue, our capabilities to advise our clients and to be paid for that advice is much broader than many of our shareholders and many of our analysts, and perhaps even we would have anticipated. So while there clearly is some cyclicality in various parts of our business, we truly are very much an all-weather firm that can advise clients on their most important strategic, financial and capital needs in widely varied environments; and a firm that can generate significant revenues by providing that advice to our clients in varied situations, all the while sticking religiously to our fee-only no-capital-risk business model. As we begin 2021, M&A dialogues and strategic activity discussions are strong. Growth companies continue to access the public markets for capital. Financial sponsors and other private businesses are seeking capital and acquisitions in the private and public markets. And institutional investors continue to value high-quality research, investment analysis and advice. So as we enter 2021, our momentum continues to be significant. In all of our businesses the level of activity of our teams is high and our backlog remains very strong. While there certainly still are challenges related to the pandemic and the economy and all of us at Evercore most certainly have enormous empathy for those in our society who have not been as fortunate as we have been, we begin 2021 in a very strong position. As we look forward, we continue to focus on long-term and trusted relationships with both current and prospective clients determined to advise them on their most important strategic, financial and capital decisions. We are planning for our eventual return to our offices globally with the health and safety of our team paramount as we develop these plans. We are focused on maintaining our strong culture that is grounded in our core values and in collaboration, both of which are hugely important contributors to our many accomplishments in 2020. We, of course, are actively pursuing opportunities to add talent strategically throughout the firm and we are optimistic about our ability to recruit this talent. We see significant opportunities to continue to grow our business both by expanding our coverage of key sectors and geographies and by deepening our product capabilities. And we are committed to continuing to operate with financial discipline, delivering strong returns to our shareholders, while maintaining a strong and liquid balance sheet and resuming our historical approach of returning any excess capital to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Let me now turn to our financial results. We achieved record fourth quarter and full year adjusted revenues, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS driven by extremely strong revenue growth and good operating leverage. Fourth quarter adjusted net revenues of $969.9 million grew 45% year-over-year and full year adjusted net revenues of $2.33 billion grew 14% compared to 2019, the highest annual revenues in our history. Fourth quarter advisory fees of $790 million grew 40% year-over-year and full year advisory fees of $1.76 billion grew 6% compared to 2019 and also were the highest in our history. Based on current consensus estimates and actual results, we expect to retain our number four ranking on advisory fees among all publicly traded investment banking firms. And we also expect to grow our market share among these firms. Importantly, our growth in 2020, combined with declining advisory revenues at the three top bulge bracket firms, resulted in a nearly 50% reduction in the gap between us and the number three ranked firm. And we narrowed the gap between Evercore and the number one and number two firms as well. Fourth quarter underwriting fees of $95 million, and full year underwriting fees of $276.2 million each more than tripled year-over-year. This business experienced a true step-up in 2020 in large part due to the expansion of our capabilities that allowed us to work on a variety of assignments for our clients, including IPOs, follow-ons, convertibles, SPACs and CAPS, as well as the more prominent role we played in virtually all transactions with which we were involved. Fourth quarter commissions and related fees of $52.4 million increased 1% year-over-year and full year commissions and related fees of $205.8 million increased 9%, compared to 2019. Fourth quarter asset management and administration fees of $20.1 million increased 20% year-over-year and full year asset management and administration fees of $67.2 million increased 11% compared to 2019. Turning to expenses. Our adjusted compensation ratio for the fourth quarter is 52.3% and for the full year is 58.9%. Fourth quarter non-compensation costs of $85.8 million declined 12% year-over-year and full year non-compensation costs of $316.7 million declined 10% versus 2020. Fourth quarter adjusted operating income and adjusted net income of $376.4 million and $277.4 million increased 110% and 113%, respectively. And adjusted earnings per share of $5.67 increased 108% versus the fourth quarter of 2019. Full year operating income and adjusted net income of $639.3 million and $459.6 million increased 28% and 23%, respectively. And adjusted earnings per share of $9.62 increased 25% versus 2019. We produced a full year operating adjusted operating margin of 27.5%, roughly 300 basis points of margin expansion compared to 2019. Finally, we remain committed to returning excess capital to our shareholders. Our Board declared a dividend of $0.61 and we will assume our normal annual reassessment of that dividend in April. We remain committed to offsetting the dilution of our upcoming bonuses, RSU grants and RSU grants to new hires through share buybacks. And we will resume our historical policy of returning excess earnings not reinvested in the business to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Bob will comment later on our GAAP results and provide additional detail on our balance sheet. Let me now turn the call over to John to discuss some of our achievements in 2020 and our opportunities for growth in 2021 and beyond. Thank you.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Thank you Ralph. Our results demonstrate clearly that we are a leader in virtually every business in which we participate and our strength in the fourth quarter in particular contributed significantly to the many records we set for the full year as a firm. We sustained our number one league table ranking for volume of announced M&A transactions both globally and in the U.S. among independent firms in 2020 and are advising on four of the 10 largest U.S. M&A transactions in 2020. In the fourth quarter, we realized revenues for many assignments that we started earlier in the year and we participated in a number of announced transactions that will close in the future. This includes advising AstraZeneca on its acquisition of Alexion, which was announced in the fourth quarter and is the largest healthcare deal and the largest cross-border deal since the onset of the pandemic. Our restructuring team ranked number two in the league tables for the number of announced U.S. transactions in 2020. We believe that our restructuring franchise is even stronger than the league table indicates due to our diversified business base of working with both debtor and creditor clients, as well as working on both in-court and out-of-court restructurings. Our restructuring business can deliver service and advice far beyond the traditional Chapter 11 bankruptcy advice and many companies called on us in 2020 for our liability management and financing capabilities. We believe activity levels remain elevated as certain sectors and companies continue the slow and taxing recovery from the pandemic-induced downturn. Our equity capital markets business performed exceptionally well in 2020 and we expect to continue to benefit from a sustained strong market for equity issuance. We continue to see strong results from our ongoing investment in this business, which has diversified our capabilities and has led to both fee-paying events and larger transactions. In 2020, we participated in more than 100 equity and equity-linked transactions that raised nearly $70 billion in total proceeds. Additionally, both sponsor and corporate clients increasingly looked to Evercore to play a significant role in their capital raising. We increased both the number of active bookrun and bookrun assignments in 2020 with our growth in active bookrun assignments outpacing our growth in bookrun assignments. Our investments in SPAC capabilities have positioned us well to serve many new clients as they navigate this active market. We are also encouraged by early results from our investment in convertible debt underwriting and sales and trading, including our first-ever sole bookrun convertible transaction that took place just last week. Our Capital Advisory group had a phenomenal year. Our team advised on more than $30 billion of deals in GP and LP-led transactions, which increased significantly in the second half of the year. And we continue to raise primary capital successfully for these clients. In fact, the team has an impressive virtual fundraising track record closing more funds virtually than anyone else in the industry. We continue to see broad growth opportunities in these areas. In defense and shareholder advisory where campaigns were down in 2020, we continued to experience very strong demand for our market-leading activist advisory practice. We advised on the defense of the largest US hospital takeover attempt and successfully advised on the defense of two of the largest proxy fights. Activist activity continues to build as activists increase their positions in companies. In Equities, our team of top institutional investor-ranked macroeconomics and fundamental analysts provided valuable insights to our clients throughout this volatile year. We also continued to make investments in our platform to support our ECM franchise, which enables us to execute at a very high level on a significant number of transactions with increasingly important roles. Finally, our Wealth Management business grew AUM past the $10 billion mark for the first time in 2020, and provided important investment advice to clients in a challenging environment. We are pleased with these many accomplishments yet we remain focused on continuing this momentum in 2021 and beyond. Let me now turn to discuss our opportunities for future growth. Our expanded advisory and underwriting capabilities provide the foundation for our growth in the future and plenty of opportunity to grow remains. We believe that there are two main elements to our future growth: First, further expanding our coverage model; and second, deepening and broadening our capabilities. Our continued efforts with the Evercore 100, our program to expand service to targeted large-cap nationals or multinationals, our dedicated coverage of financial sponsors and investing in talent to grow in areas of white space with the addition of A+ talent will all facilitate our expanded coverage model. There are many areas of untapped geographic and sector potential, and we are actively seeking to add talent in those areas where we believe we can deepen our coverage, including TMT, fintech, pharma, consumer, financial sponsors, large-cap multinationals and Europe. We continue to have many conversations with talented professionals to strengthen these important areas of coverage. While we were below our historical average of four to eight recruits annually in 2020 as we pulled back from our usual recruiting process due to the pandemic, we welcomed two advisory Senior Managing Directors to Evercore during the year. These additions enhance our advisory capabilities on complex large-cap corporate realignments and our capital markets tech business. We look forward to additional talent announcements in 2021 as we resume a more normalized recruiting process. Equally important to recruiting externally is our focus on long-term commitment to attracting, recruiting and mentoring talented junior individuals and promoting from within. These individuals contribute to our ability to be a self-sustaining firm. We are pleased to announce that we promoted three Managing Directors to Senior Managing Director in January, strengthening our advisory coverage of healthcare and restructuring and our equities coverage of healthcare services and technology. Deepening and broadening our capabilities, the second element of our growth plan, further enables our bankers to collaborate with others across the firm to meet the strategic financial and capital needs of our clients. An excellent example of this was a merger deal announced this morning where Jazz Pharma bought GW Pharma at a $7.2 billion deal. Evercore acted as a lead financial advisor and the sole debt advisor to this transaction. In addition, people from M&A and Advisory as well as Equity Capital Markets and hedging all contributed to the advice. We continue to focus on broadening and diversifying our capabilities, so that we can deepen client relationships, participate in a broader range of activities and earn a greater share of fees that clients pay to their adviser on any given transaction. We are pleased to welcome our first advisory Senior Managing Director hire of 2021, our new Head of Equity Capital Markets, Kristy Grippi. We've built a truly world-class ECM underwriting and advisory business and we are excited to have Kristy join us to lead this business through its next stage of growth. Our 2020 results demonstrate that the breadth and diversity of our capabilities drives deeper relationships with clients and helps with building new client relationships. Our investments in both the SPAC and convertible markets are just two recent examples of investments that have enabled new opportunities to advise clients. We believe that significant opportunities remain to provide additional services to our current client base and to attract new clients. Our broader capabilities have supported our industry-leading Advisory Senior Managing Director productivity. We anticipate that as these capabilities become more broadly utilized by our clients and our fee share increases, our market-leading productivity will be sustained or even enhanced. Before I turn the call over to Bob to go over our GAAP financials and discuss our balance sheet, I want to acknowledge our exceptional team across the Board; Advisory, Equities, Wealth Management and the Corporate group. The results and achievements that Ralph and I have summarized could not have happened without the dedication, teamwork, collaboration, and commitment that our people demonstrated throughout one of the most uniquely challenging years that many of us have ever experienced. We are deeply grateful for their extraordinary effort. Now, let me pass the call over to Bob.

Bob Walsh, CFO

Thank you, John and good morning to all. Let's kick off with our GAAP results. For the fourth quarter of 2020, net revenues, net income, and earnings per share on a GAAP basis were $927 million, $220 million, and $5.02, respectively. For the full year, net revenues, net income, and earnings per share on a GAAP basis were $2.3 billion, $351 million, and $8.22, respectively. As has been the case historically, our adjusted results exclude certain items related to the realignment strategy that began in the fourth quarter of 2019 and which was completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. In total, we incurred separation and transition benefits and related costs of approximately $45 million, which reflect a modest increase in the costs from our prior estimate of $43 million. During the fourth quarter of 2020, we recorded approximately $4 million of special charges, which are excluded from our adjusted results. In the fourth quarter, we completed the sale of our broker/dealer business in Mexico to its management team and we completed the transition of our Advisory business in Mexico to a strategic alliance with TACTIV, a newly formed strategic advisory firm founded by the former leaders of our Advisory business. There is a loss of approximately $31 million for the year included in other revenue that is related to our transition in Mexico. Our adjusted results for the fourth quarter and full year 2020 also exclude special charges of $1.3 million and $3.3 million, respectively, related to accelerated depreciation expense and $1.7 million related to the impairment of assets resulting from the wind down of our Mexico business. Turning to taxes, our GAAP tax rate for the fourth quarter was 23.2% compared to 21.7% in the prior year period. Our GAAP tax rate for the full year was 23.7% compared to 21.2% in the prior period. And on a GAAP basis, the share count was 43.9 million for the fourth quarter and 42.6 million for the full year. Our share count for adjusted earnings per share was 48.9 million for the fourth quarter and 47.8 million for the full year. Firm-wide non-compensation costs per employee were approximately $47,000 for the fourth quarter and $172,000 for the full year, each down 9% and 11% on a year-over-year basis respectively. The decrease in non-compensation costs per employee versus last year primarily reflects lower travel and related expenses. As we continue to evolve towards more normal operations, costs associated with travel, recruiting, and other expenses will begin to increase. Finally, focusing on our balance sheet. Our strong year-end balance sheet reflects the strength and momentum of the recovery in the latter part of the year. As of December 31st, we held approximately $830 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.1 billion in investment securities. As is always the case at this time of year, a meaningful portion of our liquidity will be used to fund upcoming cash bonus payments, payments related to prior year deferred compensation awards that are vesting currently, tax obligations relating to compensation awards including relating to the net settlement of restricted stock units that vest in the first quarter. Longer term, we are holding investment securities to fund payment obligations relating to deferred compensation awards that will vest in the future and to meet liquidity and regulatory capital requirements. As of December 31st, we have made commitments to pay more than $450 million related to future cash payment obligations under our long-term deferred compensation programs and these payment obligations exist at various dates through 2024. These payments are of course subject to satisfaction of established vesting requirements. This number will change in the first quarter as prior awards will vest and be paid out and new awards relating to 2020 compensation will be granted. The actions taken in 2020 strengthen our balance sheet significantly, and as Ralph and John have noted, put us in a position to return free cash earnings generated from operations to investors consistent with past practice. I would now like to open the line for questions.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from Manan Gosalia with Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Manan Gosalia, Analyst

Hi, good morning. Clearly, a very strong quarter here. If I can dig into the M&A environment a little bit. I appreciate all the color on the near-term strength, but can you give us what percentage of deals completed this quarter? Were those that were put on hold pre-COVID? And what percentage of deals went through in an accelerated fashion this quarter that maybe would have taken two to three quarters to complete?

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Sure. Let me start. We believe that a significant portion began this year, although we haven't pinpointed the exact number. It's important to note that we observed an increase in activity levels, especially as things began to pick up in the third quarter and continued in a very positive manner in the fourth quarter. Currently, our activity levels are quite strong, reflecting ongoing improvements from the fourth quarter. In summary, a significant percentage started early in the year, and at the moment, we feel optimistic about our strong activity levels and the strategic conversations we're having with our clients.

Manan Gosalia, Analyst

Got it. Maybe on the pretax margin front. This quarter and this year showed that you can go well above the 25% pretax margin in a strong revenue environment. I was wondering, if the environment holds here, and we are at the start of a new M&A cycle, is there any reason why you might not necessarily get back up to the 28%-plus pretax margins that you saw back in 2018? Are there any investments that you're looking to make that are higher than the current run rate or any headwinds that we should be considering?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

We have always stated our expectation to maintain business margins above 25% in typical circumstances. This year was somewhat unusual, as we benefitted from reduced travel and entertainment activities. We believe we can achieve a high compensation ratio in the 58% to 59% range, with non-comp ratios between 15% and 17%. This year's figures are lower due to decreased travel and entertainment expenses. We do not intend to set a specific target for these ratios because there are many factors that can change each year. Additionally, we always keep open the possibility of making significant investments in our team when opportunities arise, which could lead to a temporary increase in the compensation ratio beyond the target mentioned earlier.

Manan Gosalia, Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Devin Ryan with JMP Securities. Your line is now open.

Devin Ryan, Analyst

Great. Good morning everyone.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Good morning, Devin.

Devin Ryan, Analyst

Maybe just to follow up a bit on the first question there, and talk a little bit more about the outlook, so I heard the word very in front of strong in the backlog comments, which I know you guys are very thoughtful about how you frame things. And so, I want to talk a little bit more about the handoff between M&A and some of the other advisory businesses. And really just as M&A is accelerating after what just seemed like a fantastic year for restructuring and then some of the other ancillary advisory businesses kind of reaccelerating. Just trying to think about putting that all together and also, what that implies for productivity. Because the M&A piece is kind of historically the biggest individual piece and seems like that's improving the most, but you still feel like you have momentum in some of these other areas, just trying to think about some of the puts and takes there.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Sure. I want to begin by saying that in the second half of 2020, we noticed a consistent increase in merger activity. As we've mentioned, we are optimistic about this level of activity and are observing many clients reaching out to discuss strategic opportunities. Additionally, our various sectors such as equity capital markets, debt advisory, and private capital advisory have all experienced strong performance going into the fourth quarter. Therefore, we believe there is positive momentum in our business. While we cannot make specific projections about the future, we are confident in the current activity levels. One of our key strengths, as noted in our earlier comments, is our restructuring business, and we are very proud of its performance this year. However, given the current market conditions where credit is accessible and there is plenty of cash available, it may be challenging for that business to match its activity levels from last year. This will lead to some trade-offs within our operations. Nonetheless, we've effectively broadened our capabilities and the range of services we provide to clients, which we believe will support our growth going forward. Our focus is on enhancing our service offerings to address clients' issues and objectives while continuing to expand our team. We hope that these efforts will help us advance in the future.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Yeah. I would just add one, Devin. I would just add that in the first three calls of 2020, the first three earnings calls, we said that with the pause in M&A, which is our largest business, we expected strength in underwriting and commissions and restructuring. But we weren't sure that they were sufficient to offset the pause in M&A. And it turned out as I said in my opening remarks, for the first nine months of the year we were exactly flat in revenues versus 2019. So those other activities plus the completion of some transactions that had been announced before the pandemic allowed us to remain flat. In the fourth quarter, M&A had started to pick up and the other businesses were still strong. So we had the perfect positive storm in the fourth quarter where all of our businesses performed extremely well. I would urge you not to annualize our fourth quarter revenues in putting together your models for 2021. But I would say as John indicated that having quite positive momentum in our largest revenue advisory business is certainly helpful to continuing the momentum of our business.

Devin Ryan, Analyst

Okay, terrific. Thank you. And then maybe just a follow-up here on just trying for the model to think about the trajectory of non-compensation costs, and kind of return to work and travel, obviously, benefits over the course of 2020. Do you guys have a good sense around the acceleration? It seems like maybe the first quarter will remain light. But as we get further into maybe the middle of this year that could step up materially. I'm just trying to think about some of the puts and takes as you had some tailwinds to expenses that were unusual this year that may reverse but then, obviously, continuing to invest in the platform as well. So just any help there would be appreciated.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Why don't we let Bob start with that and then John or I will add something.

Bob Walsh, CFO

As I mentioned and I believe everyone agrees, we are eager to return to the office. Alongside this, we expect an increase in travel, but we believe it will be gradual throughout the year. It won't immediately return to the levels seen in 2019, so we will have to wait and see. Returning to the office is crucial for our culture and for fostering teamwork. Consequently, we expect the cost per employee, which is a vital metric for us, to rise, albeit in a measured manner. You identified one cost driver that is actually positive: we foresee a return to typical recruiting practices, which will likely lead to some upward pressure on professional fees.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

I would just add that none of us can be certain about what normalized travel will look like post-pandemic, once everyone is vaccinated and feels safe again. In my opinion, it won’t return to the way it was because we have learned that certain processes, like negotiating transactions, can be effectively managed via video calls. However, establishing new business relationships and connecting with clients is definitely more difficult to do online compared to in person. I expect that once it is safe to travel again, our bankers and other firms on Wall Street will quickly resume those kinds of activities. Whether that will amount to 75%, 80%, 70%, or 85% of our pre-COVID levels remains uncertain, but it will be lower.

Devin Ryan, Analyst

Okay. Terrific, I would be there. But, I appreciate the time guys, and I congratulate you on a great year.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Thank you.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Michael Brown with KBW. Your line is now open.

Michael Brown, Analyst

Great. Hi. Good morning.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Good morning.

Michael Brown, Analyst

I would like to begin by discussing the restructuring. Can you provide the contribution from restructuring-related activities in the fourth quarter and any insights for the full year 2020? An approximate estimate would help us understand that part of the revenue and its potential trends into 2021. Is there still a significant amount in the COVID-related pipeline, or is it mostly finished at this stage?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

As you know, we do not disclose the individual segments of our advisory activities. This is not due to a lack of desire for transparency, but rather because it's challenging to correctly categorize restructuring, debt advisory, and balance sheet repair. Therefore, we cannot provide a detailed breakdown for public reporting. However, we can say that the revenue generated by our restructuring partners this year has been higher than in previous years, and we anticipate it will remain strong in 2021. Nevertheless, given the current strength of the markets, we expect it will not reach the levels seen in 2020. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, our primary source of revenue comes from strategic and M&A advice, which is experiencing significant momentum right now. It would be surprising if our revenues from that largest segment of our advisory business were to exceed those of 2020 in 2021.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

I'd just like to add one thing which is — and this will not directly answer your question, but maybe it will give you a little bit of a sense of how we think about our businesses culturally. And that is that our restructuring business has some truly outstanding financiers in it. And what we always do when we're serving clients and acting to give advice on their objectives, is we bring parts of the firm that can add value in. And so, our activity level with respect to our restructuring business is not just dependent on bankruptcies per se, but there's a tremendous amount of advice and value-add that they bring to really some of the general business that we do giving clients advice. Whether it's in terms of thinking about their balance sheets or whether it's thinking about how to finance mergers they get very involved with us. And so, one of the things that we have is real flex because our professionals really work hard to partner together and to really gang-tackle the problems of our clients. And so hopefully what you will see at the firm over time is, this partnership allowing us to get real leverage in our system.

Michael Brown, Analyst

Okay. Great. That's helpful color. Wanted to change gears given your equities franchise and ask about a topic that's kind of been all over the news in the past 1.5 years or so which is these the impact of some of these Reddit or meme stocks if you will. Can you speak to the puts and takes of that volatility across your Equities franchise? At this point it seems like the worst of the volatility and the delevering appears to be behind us. But do you I guess one thing that would be interesting to hear about is do you think some of that market-related volatility could impact some of the ECM issuance volumes, or do you think it will just continue as kind of business as usual?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Well first of all, I think we're really not touched in any meaningful way by this volatility because it's driven almost exclusively if not exclusively by individual investors and our Equity business' connectivity is all with institutional clients. So in terms of its effect on our revenues, it's really inconsequential. I do think that as a general matter the kinds of individual stock moves that we've had in recent days are not the best thing for markets in general because they are indicative of the supply and demand in certain stocks, allowing the trading value of a stock to depart fairly consequentially from the fundamental earnings power and prospects of the stock. And I think we've seen some of that in the last handful of weeks. I think those sorts of things are never really good to see in a stock market because they generally end badly and very often badly for individual investors not the large institutions who have the wherewithal to withstand that kind of volatility. So I'm not happy to see it, but I don't have an easy prescription for addressing it.

Michael Brown, Analyst

Okay, great. Thanks, appreciate the commentary on the topic. Thanks.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from Richard Ramsden with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Richard Ramsden, Analyst

Hey good morning guys. So a couple of questions for me. Could we talk a little bit about the underwriting business? I mean that's obviously become a significant business for you. When you think longer term what do you think is a realistic market share within ECM? And maybe you could also talk on the about the debt advisory business, as well and talk a little bit again about what you think is a realistic market share that you could get maybe over a 3 to 5 year period of the global revenue pool in those businesses?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Let me discuss the Underwriting business first. I view our underwriting business at the start of 2021 similarly to how I viewed our Advisory business in 2015 or 2016. This means I believe we have significant market share gains ahead of us. Last year was clearly a turning point as we expanded the types of services we offer to clients by adding convertible, SPAC, and CAP capabilities in addition to IPOs and follow-ons. We benefited from these expansions and from the increased involvement of a broader group of our entrepreneurial bankers across various industries. Additionally, our average share of fees in the transactions we were involved in has risen. I believe these factors will help us continue gaining market share. Revenue in any business, whether it's advisory in previous years or equity underwriting in the future, depends on two factors: the overall level of activity and our market share. John and I are confident that our market share will keep growing, and we are not nearing the end of our success in that business. What remains uncertain is the total level of activity, though we know that the year has started off strong. As for debt advisory, I can't really provide an answer since there is no publicly available data on it. This is a business that only independent firms can engage in, as it involves helping clients connect with capital providers, many of whom are larger firms. All independent firms may claim to be involved in this business, but there is no data on market share, so I cannot provide an answer.

Richard Ramsden, Analyst

Okay. And then yes, go ahead.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

I wanted to add that as we have continued to bring in top-tier talent, we've noticed that clients increasingly seek our expertise in financing decisions and our ability to guide them through these processes. On the equity side, as Ralph mentioned, we are taking larger roles in financing, while also helping clients strategically navigate their financing options. The same applies to the debt side, where our respected team offers high-quality advice, allowing us to deliver valuable insights that lead to higher fees. We believe there are significant opportunities ahead as we continue to provide exceptional advice in numerous transactions and for many companies we are involved with.

Richard Ramsden, Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. So the second thing I wanted to ask about is post the election corporate tax reform looks like it could be a possibility again. If we do get some sort of corporate tax reform either later on this year or maybe in 2022, do you think that would have a material impact for the business either positively or negatively? I guess, obviously the Advisory business in particular.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Not really. In his campaign, President Biden then candidate Biden argued — or had as part of his plan a return — an increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. It's not clear by the way with a split congress as we have that any of his tax plans will make it through. But even if he did achieve all of that, which I'm quite skeptical about, the way I think about that is that in at a 21% tax rate, 79% of every dollar of earnings goes to shareholders. At a 28% tax rate, it's 72%. So that's a decline in earnings of less than 10%. If it goes to 25%, which I personally think would be more likely if we get any increase at all, it's a decline in earnings of five percentage points. So that's not nothing, but it's not that big a deal either in my view.

Richard Ramsden, Analyst

Okay. That's great. And then my last question is, you talked about a strong pipeline for recruiting advisors. How would you characterize the recruiting environment today? It's clearly a favorable environment for you and your peers. Would you say that the recruiting environment is rational today in terms of what people are willing to pay for talent?

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

I can't really make a judgment on what people are willing to pay for talent. But what I can give a judgment on is how our discussions and negotiations are going. And in general, I think that we've found success in finding people who really like our model and like — and are drawn to our firm and our culture. And we think that has really afforded us the opportunity to talk to some real A+ talent. And as we've said to you, we continue to feel like there is real opportunity to pick up more talent who want to join. In terms of the rational cost of it, I don't think we have found that it is out of bounds of what we've seen in the past. I think what really happens is people look at the opportunity they have at a firm, and they make a judgment as to whether this is a firm they want to be with, whether they like to — want to join the team and then whether they can realize their financial goals by being there. And our experience is that in fact, we've had no problem in getting people to come over with reasonable terms. And in fact, I think a lot of people are looking at our platform and really the momentum of the platform and are making the judgment that they love being a part of an organization that has momentum. But also they realize that they can do quite well because the firm continues to have the momentum and has access to client and transaction situations that are quite attractive.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Yeah. Richard, I would just add one thing and that is it is reinforced by our performance this year. John and I can consistently sit in front of anyone with whom we're having discussions, whether they're coming from a large firm, a full-service firm or from another independent firm. And without any pushback from the people we're recruiting, we can inarguably say to them that if they come to an independent firm that they can do more business with their clients at Evercore than they can at any other firm in our industry. We're the only independent — we're the only independent firm that has equity underwriting capability. We're the only independent firm that has a world-class activist defense and shareholder engagement practice. We're the only independent firm who has the leading expert in corporate structure, splits, spins, Morris Trust reverse Morris Trust etc. And we're strong in everything else that you would find in an independent firm. So the reality is and one of the big draws of our firm is that bankers can do — be involved in anything that they would have been involved in at their old firm sometimes as an advisor like debt advisory is an extender of debt, but in many cases exactly as they would have done at a large firm. And that's certainly true for example of the equity underwriting business.

Richard Ramsden, Analyst

Okay. Thank you very much. That's very helpful.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Brennan Hawken with UBS. Your line is now open.

Brennan Hawken, Analyst

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. My first question is a follow-up regarding recruiting. In 2020, many of the major competitors decided to show some compensation leverage for the benefit of shareholders, rather than maintaining the traditional relationship between revenues and compensation. Have you observed or do you anticipate any impact on your recruiting opportunities this year? Has this made you feel more optimistic? Has it led to any discussions yet, or is it still just a matter of expectation?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Yeah. Brennan, I think that the what's happened in the large firms is not exactly what you just outlined. I think what happened in the large firms is the return that they've gotten on their capital has been extraordinary last year. And that allowed them to pay their people well and to pay their shareholders well and have compensation ratios that have the appearance of the more disciplined. That — those results are in my view almost 100% or 100% a result of the extraordinary revenue and return from the capital that they deployed. And therefore, we really have not seen any effect on the compensation of individual bankers with maybe the exception of one or two firms. For the most part, the bankers that we pursue, who I often characterize as the high-ROE bankers, those who can generate revenue without necessarily being dependent on the balance sheet. Those people were compensated well last year as they have been historically.

Brennan Hawken, Analyst

Okay. Thanks for that. And then the momentum in ISI is really impressive. So I'm in search of a new pet project here with you guys at Evercore. So have you guys thought about strategic alternatives for the wealth and asset management business? It seems as though that's just sort of small. And at this point, it's like low single-digit type percentage of operating income for you all. Why not consider strategic alternatives given the popularity of M&A in that space and use the capital to either return to shareholders via buybacks or fund more hiring?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Well, first of all, Brennan, I really appreciate you taking on a new pet project. Yes. Look, we — I think of the businesses that we own in wealth management or in asset management. At this point, one of them is consolidated. That's our Wealth Management business. I think we do see some — and I hate this word, synergy between people — when we sell a business, wealth comes in and sometimes we're able to turn those people into Wealth Management clients. And sometimes Wealth Management clients have advisory opportunities as well. The deconsolidated businesses that are accounted for in the equity method are essentially investments at this point. And we always look at those from the point of view of, are they more valuable to someone else than they are to us?

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

The only — what I'd like to add is that the Evercore Wealth Management group is performing extremely well and we're really pleased with how they're executing their business and serving their clients and feel very, very good about their performance, their opportunities ahead and remain very committed to them.

Brennan Hawken, Analyst

Okay. Thanks for the color.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jeff Harte with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

Good morning, guys.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Good morning.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

A couple of I guess kind of cleanup questions. Can you give us the SMD and employee counts at year-end?

Bob Walsh, CFO

Jeff, the Senior Managing Directors reflecting a bunch of changes that we've disclosed. So really as of today, as opposed to as of year-end is 107. And the total headcount for the firm is about 1,800.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

Okay. And were there any pull-forward of revenues, a meaningful pull-forward of revenues from deals that closed in 1Q back into 4Q?

Bob Walsh, CFO

I'll let you decide on meaningful. 4Q of this year was a bit more than $32 million. That compares with 4Q last year of a bit more than $33 million.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

Okay. Thanks. Regarding productivity, I'm seeing a revenue per Senior Managing Director around $16 million, in what was an unusual 2020. Is that a reasonable baseline for the future? Can you break down the productivity levels across various assignment types, specifically comparing M&A to the stronger areas in 2021 like restructuring or fund placement?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Yes. We would — the productivity is, we have a slightly different way of measuring it in the sense that we count only SMDs that are in their first full year. So our measure would be a little bit higher than yours. And I think it's — we have already industry-leading productivity compared to the other independent firms. We're probably close to twice theirs and in some cases closer to three times theirs. So our productivity is already quite good. It's aided, I think, by the fact that we do have a broader array of capabilities for our Senior Managing Directors to deploy. And I wouldn't really want to predict where it can go. In good markets, I think it can be higher than what it is right now. I think at the beginning we would have predicted that it might have wound up lower than it turned out to be. And so, I think we have terrific people and we have the broadest array of capabilities of any independent firm. So our productivity, the gap between us and our competitors should be maintained and perhaps even widen.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

And across kind of different businesses, I mean, should we think of different businesses being more productive than others, or does it all kind of – would net out in the end?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

I think that it's awful hard to do because included that 107 that Bob just gave you are people, who are capabilities or product people who aren't necessarily responsible for covering clients. So the mix that we have doesn't really lend itself to the kind of categorization that you're asking about.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

Okay. And finally, you mentioned the strong pipeline of senior talent additions as we enter 2021. How should we think about operating leverage and kind of margins as recruitment ramps back up? And I'm kind of thinking that specifically relative to the last couple of years where the comp ratio kind of stepped up and you guys had referenced kind of senior hires as being a driver of that stepped up rate?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

I think that at this point it's not clear. We have a lot of dialogues underway right now. If all of those turned into new hires, it's possible there would be a little bit of pressure on the comp ratio. But we're so – I think what we've always said is if we get that opportunity we'll take advantage of it. And we'll surely share with you that in a very transparent way. I think we're a ways away from having that kind of a discussion at this point.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

And just to state the obvious. We get leverage as our revenues grow. That is clearly a really important part of how the comp ratio plays out. And so a lot of it depends on what the market gives us and what we're able to apply. We've told you that we really believe that by expanding our both our people who can address themselves to clients as well as our capabilities, we think we're going to share in more of an uplift in the market. But clearly that is a very important part of how the comp ratio plays.

Jeff Harte, Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jim Mitchell with Seaport Global Securities. Your line is now open.

Jim Mitchell, Analyst

Okay, great. Good morning. Maybe just a question on Europe. It's been an underperformer for 10 years. We might finally have a little clarity on Brexit. You highlighted it as an area of geographic expansion. So how are you feeling about Europe at this point? Do you see the potential for a sustained improvement over there? It seems like we're seeing some green shoots. I just want to hear your thoughts going forward.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Okay. I think, we do think that there is some pickup in activity in Europe. Europe is still, as you indicated in your question, well below its pre-financial crisis role in aggregate M&A activity. I don't think we anticipate getting back to that quite honestly. But there should be some pickup. We have among the independent firms the largest franchise there by far of those firms that were born in the United States, sorry. So we're not as big as Lazard and Rothschild in Europe. And if Europe does pick up disproportionately, I think we would expect them to benefit more from that than we would. But we would benefit from that more than any of the other independent firms.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Yes. And what I would offer is that we clearly do look at Europe as an opportunity for us. We have found that our bankers and our brand are playing well there. And so we are looking quite intensively for talent who want to join our team and we really believe that there's real opportunity for us. So you can expect that we will be looking and mining for real talent. And we will be focusing on finding some growth in Europe, especially as the market improves.

Jim Mitchell, Analyst

Okay. That's helpful. And maybe just a follow-up on the ECM conversation. I know this is really, really long-term, but how do you think about your long-term target? Is it getting to bulge bracket levels, or is there something about being an independent boutique that doesn't have a balance sheet that would sort of keep you from getting to that kind of market share long-term?

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

First of all, the large firms engage in a significant part of the overall equity underwriting through block trades, which we are not participating in. As a result, we will not attain the league table credit that the large firms consistently earn when they provide credit; our credit in the league tables is only recognized when we serve as an advisor. Thus, there will be segments of the market where our market share is effectively zero. Consequently, reaching the size of the large firms is not feasible for us. However, I believe, and I know John agrees, that we can remain competitive in areas of the underwriting business that do not require extensive capital.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Without making a prediction the one thing I would say is that we are increasingly seeing that we're getting opportunities to move to lead, active lead, lead left. We've continued to get those opportunities and they've built. And so we think there's real space in front of us. To assume that we're going to get to their market share or their profitability level, I think, that's — that may be a leap certainly for now. All we're really doing right now is looking at what we think is really significant growth in front of us and we think that it's there for us to take and to keep moving. So we feel good about the prospect. But I think getting to the level that you're suggesting I think that remains to be seen. We'll see.

Jim Mitchell, Analyst

Okay. Appreciate the thoughts.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. There appears to be no questions at this time. I would now like to turn the floor to Ralph Schlosstein and John Weinberg for any closing comments.

John Weinberg, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Thank you all for your time today. We really appreciate it.

Operator, Operator

This concludes today's Evercore fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results conference call. You may now disconnect.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO

Great. Thank you.