Evercore reported record second-quarter adjusted net revenues of $839 million, up nearly 21%, with adjusted EPS of $2.42 up 34% and operating margin expanding 230 basis points, supported by record advisory fees and a diversified mix with roughly half of revenue from non-M&A sources. The firm announced an agreement to acquire U.K. advisory boutique Robey Warshaw for about $196 million upfront to extend its global reach. Management noted M&A activity has not yet reached a full recovery as tariffs and uncertainty still weigh on some boardroom decisions, while backlogs build and the tax rate and compensation ratio remain pressure points.
Thank you, operator. Good morning and thank you for joining us today for Evercore's second quarter 2025 financial results conference call. I'm Katy Haber, Evercore's Head of Investor Relations. Joining me on the call today is John Weinberg, our Chairman and CEO, and Tim LaLonde, our CFO. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the line for questions. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing Evercore's second quarter 2025 financial results. Our discussion of our results today is complimentary to the press release, which is available on our 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. During the course of this conference call, we may make a number of forward-looking statements.
Any forward-looking statements that we make 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 reconciliation, 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 have noted previously, our results for any particular quarter are influenced by the timing of transaction closing. I will now turn the call over to John.
Thank you, Katy. Before we review our second quarter financial results, I would like to spend a few minutes discussing our announcement from earlier this morning. We've entered into an agreement to acquire Robey Warshaw, a leading U.K.-based advisory firm with an extraordinary client franchise and relationships with some of the most prominent multinational companies in Europe. For 30 years, Evercore has been committed to delivering for clients by expanding our capabilities and talent each and every year, building a firm grounded in excellence and long-term high-quality growth. This acquisition continues that approach, enhancing our ability to create value for all of our stakeholders. Robey Warshaw's partners have advised on some of the largest and most complex transactions globally, including seven of the ten largest in U.K. history.
This year, Robey Warshaw advised Banco Santander on a $3.9 billion acquisition of TSB, Direct Line Insurance Group on its $4.5 billion acquisition via Viva, and Johnson Matthey on a $2.4 billion sale of its CT division to Honeywell International. In the U.K., Robey Warshaw has been a trusted advisor to over a quarter of the FTSE 100 and has significant reach in the continent and globally. Robey Warshaw's business is highly complementary to Evercore's broad and growing AMEA platform. This acquisition is a significant step in our global expansion strategy. By combining Robey Warshaw's long-standing trusted relationships with large-cap clients and Evercore's relationships, broad product capabilities, deep sector expertise, and global reach, we are enhancing the value we can deliver to clients around the world. As you have seen, we've been accelerating our growth in AMEA in recent years, including key additions in France, Spain, and most recently, Italy.
This acquisition will further strengthen our presence in the U.K. and the broader region. It will also strengthen our global efforts as we continue to serve large multinational companies on their most important transactions, including cross-border. With the addition of Robey Warshaw, Evercore will have more than 400 bankers across nine countries in the region. We believe this transaction will unlock synergies, creating value for our shareholders and enhancing our ability to serve clients. Importantly, their values are an excellent match with ours, a commitment to partnership and collaboration, and to long-term client relationships, excellence, integrity, and independence. We are looking forward to welcoming the Robey Warshaw team to Evercore and to what we will achieve together on behalf of our clients. Now, let me discuss our business and second quarter results.
Despite the rapidly changing market conditions experienced throughout the second quarter, Evercore delivered strong results, generating adjusted net revenues of $839 million, up nearly 21% year-over-year. In the first half of 2025, Evercore generated over $1.5 billion in adjusted net revenues, a 20% increase compared to the same period a year ago. These results represent record revenues for both second quarter and first half. The strength and resilience we have demonstrated so far this year reflect the execution of our growth strategy and the versatility of our business model, which enable us to serve our clients and deliver results for our shareholders in various types of environments. Since the market disruption in late March and in early April, business conditions have improved with increasing CEO confidence levels, receptive debt and equity issuance markets, and healthy engagement with both corporates and sponsors.
Year-to-date, through the end of the second quarter, industry-wide, global M&A volumes were 30% higher than a year ago, with volumes increasing steadily each month. Our backlogs continue to build throughout the quarter, and our client dialogue activity remains robust. While uncertainties remain, we continue to be optimistic about the path forward. As we move through the year, we expect greater clarity and stability in the markets, which should support continued improvement in the investment banking environment. Shifting to talent, we continue to make progress on our recruiting goals. Since our last earnings call, four senior managing directors have joined our investment banking practice in private capital advisory, healthcare, industrials, and in Italy. Three investment banking SMBs have committed to join our franchise: two focused on logistics and transportation, and one focused on ratings advisory.
So far for the year, nine investment banking SMBs and one senior advisor have started at the firm or will be joining later in the year, and we continue to have a solid pipeline of external candidates. Attracting and developing the highest quality talent continues to be a core priority for us. The senior-level talent we've hired and promoted over the past several years is contributing meaningfully to our results. Now, let me briefly discuss the quarter. As noted earlier, we delivered strong year-over-year growth across our diversified mix of businesses in both the second quarter and the first half. In fact, in the second quarter and over the last 12 months, approximately 50% of our total revenues were from non-M&A sources, reflecting the strength of our diversified platform.
In M&A, we advised on a number of notable and complex transactions in the quarter, including Cox Communications' merger with Charter Communications, valuing Cox Communications at $34.5 billion, Warner Bros. Discovery on its separation into two leading media companies, a transaction that leveraged the expertise of multiple teams across the firm, and the sale of Foot Locker to Dick's Sporting Goods for $2.5 billion. We've continued to experience strong momentum in July, advising Becton Dickinson on the combination of its Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions business with Waters in a $17.5 billion Reverse Morris Trust transaction, and advising Huntington Bancshares on its acquisition of Veritex Holdings for $1.9 billion. Year-to-date, we have advised on four of the ten largest global transactions and remain active in a wide range of high-quality, complex transactions spanning mid-cap, large-cap, and mega-cap deal sizes.
Our European business saw growth in the quarter with an increase in activity across most sectors and products, and momentum for deal activity in the region continues to build. Activity among financial sponsors continues to strengthen, and we are experiencing strong levels of sponsor dialogue. Our strategic defense and shareholder advisory group remains highly active as the number of activist campaigns in the U.S. reached new records in the first half of the year. The liability management and restructuring group continues to see strong activity levels. Private equity-led situations remain a key driver, and we expect the business to stay active in the near term as sponsors and corporates navigate upcoming maturity walls, elevated interest rates, and broader market uncertainty. Our industry-leading private capital advisory business delivered a record first half and second quarter, driven by unprecedented volumes in GP-led continuation funds, LP secondaries, and securitizations.
We advised on many of the most significant transactions across these products, including several high-profile secondary market deals for endowments and pension funds. Trends in our private funds group remain in line with the first quarter as fundraising conditions continue to be challenging. However, our team remains active and expects a pickup in activity towards the end of the year, consistent with seasonal patterns. After a slowdown in activity in April, the equity capital markets have seen signs of recovery, with dollar issuance volumes in the second quarter reaching the highest level since the first quarter of 2021, though the number of transactions is still down year-over-year. Our underwriting business experienced an uptick in activity in May and June, and we expect these positive trends to continue as we enter the second half.
Our equities franchise had its strongest second quarter ever, driven by market volatility, increased trading volumes, and strong client engagement. Lastly, wealth management reached a record quarter-end AUM of approximately $14.5 billion, driven by market appreciation and net inflows. Before I turn it over to Tim, I'd like to make one final comment. We remain committed to executing on our growth strategy and on creating value for both our clients and our shareholders. This is evident in our year-to-date financial results and in our acquisition of Robey Warshaw. With that, let me turn it over to Tim.
Thank you, John. We are excited to have the Robey Warshaw team joining and believe this will provide significant benefits to Evercore. Over the last three years, Robey Warshaw has produced average annual revenues of over GBP 60 million, or more than $80 million. As you can see in the press release, the consideration we are paying is GBP 146 million, or approximately $196 million, payable in two tranches, with the first payment in Evercore stock at closing and the second payment at the one-year anniversary in stock or cash to be mutually agreed by Evercore and Robey Warshaw. There is also potential additional consideration, which is based on defined performance criteria over a multi-year period of time. The transaction is expected to close around the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year.
We expect it to be accretive to Evercore's adjusted and GAAP EPS in our first full year together and thereafter. We will continue to maintain strong liquidity and conservative debt levels and are committed to building value for our shareholders. Now, I will discuss our financial results for the second quarter. Evercore's second quarter reflected improving market conditions and strong results across our diversified mix of businesses. The second quarter of 2025. Net revenues, operating income, and EPS on a GAAP basis were $834 million, $150 million, and $2.36 per share, respectively. My comments from here will focus on non-GAAP metrics, which we believe are useful when evaluating our results. Our standard GAAP reporting and a reconciliation of GAAP to adjusted results can be found in our press release, which is on our website.
Our second quarter adjusted net revenues of $839 million increased 21% versus the second quarter of 2024, which was a record for the second quarter, and we also achieved record revenues for the first six months of the year. Second quarter adjusted operating income of $157 million increased 37% versus the second quarter of 2024. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.42 increased 34% versus the second quarter of last year. Our adjusted operating margin was 18.7% for the second quarter, up from 16.4% in the prior year period, an improvement of 230 basis points. Turning to the businesses. second quarter adjusted advisory fees of $698 million increased 23% year-over-year, which is a record for the second quarter. First half results also represented a record for the advisory business. Our second quarter underwriting revenues were $32 million, up 4% from a year ago.
Commissions and related revenue of $58 million in the quarter increased 10% year-over-year. The strength in the quarter was primarily driven by heightened trading volumes in April, resulting from increased levels of volatility. Second quarter adjusted asset management and administration fees of $21 million rose 3% year-over-year, driven by market appreciation and net inflows. Second quarter adjusted other revenue, net, was approximately $29 million, which compares to $22 million a year ago. Slightly more than half of that is related to gains in our DCCP hedge portfolio, which is correlated to the performance of the broader equity market, and the balance of the other revenue is primarily related to interest income. Turning to expenses, the adjusted compensation ratio for the second quarter is 65.4%, down 60 basis points from the prior year period and down 30 basis points from last quarter.
Our compensation ratio for the quarter reflects a gradual improvement in the investment banking environment and an improvement in our revenue. As you have seen from the recent announcements, we are continuing to invest and execute on our strategic growth plan, which may create a time lag for making meaningful improvement in our comp ratio in the near term. Adjusted non-compensation expenses in the quarter were $133 million, up 9% from a year ago. The increase year-over-year is primarily driven by two things. The first is technology and information services expense, which rose due to higher renewal costs for market data and licensing fees, and those costs tend to rise faster than the rate of inflation. The other is the implementation and development of new software applications, which are intended to create efficiencies and facilitate our client coverage and service efforts.
The second is occupancy and equipment expense, which increased due to higher rents and costs associated with the addition of new floors in our New York headquarters and new offices related to our expansions in Chicago, Paris, Dubai, and London. Our adjusted non-comp ratio for the quarter is at 15.9%, 170 basis points below the ratio for the prior year period and 180 basis points below last quarter's ratio, benefiting from our revenue increase. Over a significant period of time, there is a correlation between headcount and non-comp expenses, with some additional increase related to inflation. If we look at our non-comp expense on a per-head basis, year-over-year, our second quarter adjusted non-comp expense would be up 2.4% per employee. As I've mentioned in the past, we are maintaining a disciplined focus on managing our non-compensation expenses while investing in areas that are necessary to support our growth.
Our adjusted tax rate for the quarter was 30% compared to 26.9% in the second quarter of last year. The year-over-year increase in the tax rate is primarily related to an increase in non-deductible expenses and an increase in taxes related to state and local apportionment. Turning to our balance sheet. As of June 30th, our cash and investment securities totaled over $1.7 billion. We continue to be cash flow positive. In the first six months of the year, we returned $532 million of capital to shareholders through the repurchase of shares and the payment of dividends. During the second quarter, we repurchased just under 200,000 shares at an average price of $236.05 per share. Year-to-date, we have repurchased approximately 1.7 million shares at an average price of $258.50 per share.
We fully offset the dilution associated with RSU grants from our 2024 bonus cycle and returned more capital to our shareholders in the first half of this year than in any other consecutive two-quarter period in our history. Our second quarter adjusted diluted share count was 43.5 million shares, relatively in line with the prior year, and down approximately 850,000 shares from the first quarter. The decline in the share count reflects a full quarter impact of repurchases during the first quarter and the accounting impact with respect to unvested RSUs as our weighted average share price declined in the second quarter. Given the increase in our share price third quarter to date, we would expect to see our share count modestly increase in the third quarter due to the same accounting impact on RSUs from our share price that caused our share count to decrease this quarter.
Additionally, in July, we issued two tranches of senior notes in the form of a private placement for a total of $250 million. We issued $125 million of 5.17% Series K notes due in 2030 and $125 million of 5.47% Series L notes due in 2032. The use of proceeds is to repay two tranches of notes that are maturing, one in August of 2025 and one in March of 2026, totaling about $86 million, and the remainder is for general corporate purposes. We continue to maintain a strong cash position and take into consideration our regulatory requirements, the current economic and business environment, cash needs for the implementation of our strategic initiatives, including hiring plans, and preserving a solid financial footing.
As we enter the second half of the year, we remain confident in our ability to deliver solid results as we have continued to demonstrate that our diversified business model performs well in all types of environments. With that, we will now open the line for questions.