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The top M&A boutique investment banks in New York are Evercore, Lazard, PJT Partners, Moelis & Company and Perella Weinberg, ranked by 2025 advisory revenue. Centerview Partners, LionTree and Ducera Partners are three prominent private New York boutiques that compete for the same mandates.
For you, a boutique means advisory work without lending or balance-sheet financing. Junior bankers spend their time on M&A, restructuring and shareholder advisory instead of financing work.
We rank the five listed firms by full-year 2025 revenue from their advisory business, as reported in their results in January and February 2026. Measures differ by firm: Evercore’s figure includes its equities business, and PJT, Moelis and Perella Weinberg report total revenue. Private firms are listed separately and unranked.
The table ranks the five listed boutiques by 2025 revenue.
| Rank | Firm | 2025 reported revenue | Measure | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evercore | $3,767.7m | Investment Banking & Equities segment | Advisory fees of $3,267.1m |
| 2 | Lazard | $1,824.8m | Financial Advisory adjusted net revenue | Record advisory year, up 5% |
| 3 | PJT Partners | $1,713.7m | Total revenue | Restructuring and strategic advisory |
| 4 | Moelis & Company | $1,516.8m | Total revenue | 178 managing directors |
| 5 | Perella Weinberg | $750.9m | Total revenue | Added 12 partners and 11 MDs in 2025 |
The private boutiques are Centerview Partners, LionTree and Ducera Partners. Each is profiled below.
These five firms report results publicly, and their senior teams are concentrated in New York. Rank follows the revenue in the table.
Evercore is headquartered in New York and is the largest independent adviser on this list. Its Investment Banking & Equities segment earned $3,767.7m of net revenue in 2025, out of $3,855.8m for the firm.
Advisory fees alone were $3,267.1m, about 1.8 times Lazard’s Financial Advisory revenue and more than double PJT’s $1,500.4m. The remaining $500.6m of the segment comes from underwriting, equities and other revenue.
Lazard reported record Financial Advisory adjusted net revenue of $1,824.8m in 2025, up 5% from $1,731.0m. The firm also runs an asset management arm, which brought in $1,165.8m.
Lazard reports from New York and is led by chief executive Peter R. Orszag.
PJT Partners reported record 2025 revenue of $1,713.7m, up 15%. Advisory fees rose 14% to $1,500.4m.
The firm said the increase came from both strategic advisory and restructuring. If you want restructuring exposure at a New York boutique, PJT is one of the first firms to target.
Moelis & Company reported 2025 revenue of $1,516.8m, or $1,535.9m on an adjusted basis, up 28%.
Moelis had 178 managing directors at the time of its results.
Perella Weinberg reported 2025 revenue of $750.9m, down 14% from $878.0m in 2024. It has about 700 employees, with offices in New York, London and Houston among others.
Despite the lower revenue, the firm added 12 partners and 11 managing directors in 2025. That means 23 senior hires in a year when revenue shrank.
Growth varied widely in 2025. The table shows the change four of the firms reported against 2024.
| Firm | 2025 revenue measure | Change vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Moelis & Company | Adjusted revenue, $1,535.9m | +28% |
| PJT Partners | Total revenue, $1,713.7m | +15% |
| Lazard | Financial Advisory, $1,824.8m | +5% |
| Perella Weinberg | Total revenue, $750.9m | -14% |
Evercore described its 2025 revenue as a record. Moelis also discloses its senior headcount. At Moelis, $1,516.8m of revenue across 178 managing directors works out at about $8.5m each.
Revenue per managing director = $1,516.8m / 178 = $8.5m.
Ask other firms for their managing director count in interviews and run the same sum as a rough comparison.
These firms are privately owned and do not report revenue. They compete with the listed firms on many of the same deals.
Centerview Partners was launched in 2006 by Robert Pruzan, Blair Effron and Stephen Crawford, according to Fortune. It has offices in New York, London, Paris, Menlo Park and San Francisco.
The firm says it has advised on $5tn of transactions and that 25% of the 50 largest companies in the world by market value are clients. It offers advice on M&A, shareholder advisory, restructuring and capital markets.
Fortune reported that Centerview advised on Motorola’s breakup, before Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn, and that former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin joined as a counselor in 2010.
LionTree was founded in New York in 2012 by Aryeh Bourkoff, who spent 14 years at UBS, according to Institutional Investor. It focuses on technology, media and telecommunications.
If you want to advise media and telecom companies, LionTree is the specialist on this list. Prepare to discuss recent media and telecom deals in interviews.
Ducera Partners was founded in June 2015 and has offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Stamford. It says it has advised on more than $750bn of transactions.
Ducera covers restructuring, M&A, strategic advisory, liability management and capital markets. Its restructuring and liability management work makes it a target for candidates aiming at distressed investing.
All eight firms advise without lending, but the work differs. Use these points to rank them for your own search.
For other markets, see our top boutique investment banks in London and top investment banks in Los Angeles. If you are thinking about exits, read our top private equity firms in New York, the top restructuring investment banks and our guide to investment banking salary and bonus.
Evercore is the largest of the New York boutiques that publish revenue. Its Investment Banking & Equities segment earned $3,767.7m, including $3,267.1m of advisory fees. Lazard is second, with $1,824.8m of Financial Advisory adjusted net revenue, followed by PJT Partners at $1,713.7m.
An elite boutique gives advice on M&A, restructuring and capital structure without lending, though some, like Evercore, also run equities businesses. A bulge bracket bank also lends, underwrites and trades at scale. Boutiques offer advice free of financing conflicts, while bulge brackets can bundle advice with financing for a deal.
PJT Partners and Ducera Partners are the clearest restructuring choices among New York boutiques. PJT said its 2025 advisory growth came partly from restructuring. Ducera lists restructuring first among its services and also offers liability management, and Centerview also offers restructuring advice.
Centerview Partners is a private, independent investment bank founded in 2006 that describes itself on its website as the number one private investment banking firm. It has offices in New York, London, Paris, Menlo Park and San Francisco. The firm says it has advised on $5tn of transactions, though it does not publish revenue.
The top M&A boutique investment banks in New York are Evercore, Lazard, PJT Partners, Moelis and Perella Weinberg by 2025 revenue, with Centerview, LionTree and Ducera as prominent private firms. Pick the firm whose deal mix, restructuring or sector focus matches the work and exit you want.
P.S. The Investment Banking Contacts Database [Global] lets you build an outreach list for these firms, and you will find other tools you might like in our Premium Resources. For weekly finance updates and the latest financial reports, subscribe to the Private Equity Bros newsletter.
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