Evercore partner departs for senior research analyst role at independent firm

Research analysts are considering their options right now, and one common move among senior researchers seeking the opportunity to be paid more directly for their insights they produce is to cluster together at an independent research provider (IRP). Oliver Wintermantel is a recent example of this.

Wintermantel was a partner and managing director at Evercore, but has just signed up to MoffettNathanson, an independent research boutique focused on technology, media and telecommunications co-founded by a group of research analysts who previously worked at AllianceBernstein’s brokerage subsidiary Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

He joined MoffettNathanson as a senior equity research analyst specializing in the consumer and ecommerce space, with a particular focus on bricks-and-mortar and internet retail stocks. He's the second senior consumer analyst to leave Evercore for MoffettNathanson in the past few months - Greg Melich, a senior managing director and head of its consumer research team, joined the firm in June to lead its new retail and internet research function. In addition, Iani Alecsiu, previously an associate at Evercore, joined MoffettNathanson in August as an equity research analyst focusing on the consumer and internet retail sector, just like Wintermantel.

Wintermantel started his career as an associate at Morgan Stanley in London before getting transferred to New York as a VP. After close to a decade at the bank, he joined the broker-dealer ISI Group as a partner and managing director, where he worked for almost five years. He joined Evercore in 2014.

Even if Wintermantel wanted to get back to his roots working as an equity analyst, it is a bit eyebrow-raising that he would make such a move from the lofty ranks at Evercore, since the boutique M&A has the reputation of being a good place to work. It came in second behind Goldman Sachs in Vault’s most recent ranking of the most prestigious finance firms to work for, first for formal and informal training, and fourth among the best investment banks to work for. It has been doing some heavy hiring. 

In addition, Evercore offers competitive compensation – it pays an average of $512k (£379k) per head – so it is likely that MoffettNathanson had to break the bank with their offer to convince Wintermantel to join the firm.

MoffettNathanson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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