Under the terms of the deal, Evercore will pay $45 million to the current partners in ABS, and its founders and employees will continue to own the remaining 55 per cent share. Founders Alain De Coster, Laurence Russian, and Guilherme Ribeiro do Valle will continue to lead the firm, with day-to-day operations and the investment process unchanged, the firms said in a statement. The founders will also sign long-term employment contracts and hold a majority of the after-tax sale proceeds of products managed by ABS.

ABS is a fund of hedge funds manager specializing in long/short equity, and manages around $3.5 billion of hedge fund assets for institutional and high net worth investors. It has 24 employees and offices in Connecticut, Zurich and Hong Kong.

The deal is expected to be accretive to earnings per share for Evercore in 2012.

On the investment management side, Evercore has around $13 billion assets under management. In its latest quarterly results, the firm reported GAAP net income of $1.8 million, down from $3.5 million a year earlier. Net revenues were $163.9 million.