New York-listed Evercore Partners, which has investment banking and investment management businesses, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 50 per cent stake in G5 advisors, a Brazil-based investment banking and investment management boutique. The firms have had a strategic alliance in place since 2008.

Under the terms of the purchase agreement, Evercore will pay $20 million in cash and securities at closing, with the potential for earn-out payments based on performance through 2013. Following the closing, the partners of G5 advisors will own the other 50 per cent stake, which Evercore will have the opportunity to acquire at the beginning of 2014.

The deal is expected to close in early October 2010, and be “moderately accretive to earnings under a range of growth rates for the business”, according to a statement from Evercore.

G5 advisors was founded in 2007 by Corrado Varoli, a former partner and head of Latin America for Goldman Sachs, along with Marcelo Lajchter and Renato Klarnet. It has since grown to have 45 employees and offices in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

“Brazil… represents an important new market for wealth creation and, therefore, it is a great country in which to expand our wealth management and investment management activities,” said Ralph Schlosstein, Evercore's president and chief executive.