HOULIHAN LOKEY

Long a standard-bearer of middle-market M&A in the U.S., Houlihan Lokey is now recognized as the top global M&A firm for deals under $1 billion, according to Refinitiv data. As this year’s Investment Bank of the Year, Houlihan stood out not just for its deal activity but for its impressive global expansion, deep industry specialization and “no-star” ethos. The firm has been an active supporter of ACG for years, at both the local level—including in ACG Los Angeles, where Houlihan Managing Director Chris Hebble has served on the board for nearly two decades—and at the national level, through a significant presence at DealMAX.

Finalists

BAIRD

BMO

HARRIS BANK

BOFA SECURITIES

CANACCORD GENUITY

GOLDMAN SACHS

HARRIS WILLIAMS

KPMG

KROLL

LINCOLN

INTERNATIONAL

PIPER SANDLER

RAYMOND JAMES

FINANCIAL

STIFEL

TD COWEN

INVESTMENT BANKING

WILLIAM BLAIR

BY MEGHAN DANIELS

lot has changed in the world of mid-market investment banking over the past 50 years—and a lot has remained the same. That too can be said for investment bank Houlihan Lokey, which was founded in 1972 in Los Angeles, where it is still headquartered today. Long a standard-bearer of middle-market M&A in the U.S., Houlihan is now recognized as a leading global firm, with 11 U.S. offices and 25 across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.

For Houlihan Lokey—winner of Middle Market Growth’s 2023 Investment Bank of the Year Award—building the firm’s presence worldwide has been crucial to success in an increasingly globalized age. “We’ve been a leading player in the mid-cap space in the U.S. for a long time, but until the last few years, we’ve been an up-and-comer in the rest of the world. Today, we have an extensive presence in both Europe and Asia,” says Scott Adelson, co-president and global co-head of corporate finance at the firm. In 2022, 24% of the firm’s deals were in EMEA and 5% in Asia.

Houlihan is the top global M&A firm for deals under $1 billion, working on 381 global M&A deals in 2022 compared to 369 by Rothschild & Co., its closest competitor, according to Refinitiv.

Houlihan is a leader even compared to firms beyond the middle market, ranking third in number of transactions of all sizes worldwide, behind only Rothschild and Goldman Sachs, according to Refinitiv. While Houlihan specializes in the middle market, the firm has substantial experience with larger deals across multiple industries as well.

Noteworthy larger transactions in 2022 included advising State Auto Insurance Companies during its sale to Liberty Mutual Insurance for $1 billion in February; advising Apollo Hybrid Value

Funds on its acquisition of GI Alliance Management in September, which valued the company at $2.2 billion; and advising Kohlberg & Co. on its acquisition of United States Infrastructure Corp. in November, which valued the business at $4.1 billion.

Worldwide Expansion

Houlihan’s international presence has been growing for some time now. Adelson pinpoints the firm’s IPO in August 2015 as the beginning of a new era. A deliberate inorganic growth strategy has also enabled Houlihan to gain a presence on the ground in multiple new countries and across continents. Notably, Houlihan acquired McQueen Limited, a leading London-based independent advisory firm, in September 2015 and bought the investment banking operations of European firm Leonardo & Co. in November 2015. More recently, the acquisition of technology advisory firm GCA Corporation in October 2021 expanded Houlihan’s presence significantly in Europe and Asia.

“Now, we can bring the same level of deal expertise to a much broader set of clients than ever before,” says Larry DeAngelo, managing director and global head of the business services group at Houlihan.

For example, in December 2022, Houlihan advised Phenna Group, a global testing, inspection, certification and compliance platform, on a secondary investment from Oakley Capital, which provided exit funding for minority investor Inflexion. “The transaction was executed out of our U.K. office and required a global experience set in the testing, inspection and measurement subvertical from both our U.S. and European colleagues. We wouldn’t have been able to do the broad relationshipbuilding required for the deal without our extensive international presence,” says DeAngelo.

At the same time the firm has grown, it has remained true to its core values. “I’ve been seeing deals from Houlihan Lokey for my entire 20+ years in the financial industry, from when they were a private company to now as a publicly traded company,” says Cornelia Cheng, managing director, Western Region, at MGG Investment Group, who has closed deals with Houlihan while at other firms and currently serves on the board of ACG Los Angeles. “They have been a premier investment bank in the Southern California region for a long time. They always see all the opportunities and do an excellent job matching them up with the right lender or private equity firm.” Now, with the firm’s increased capabilities—Houlihan has over 2,500 global employees—they can offer these services to a wide variety of other markets.

Industry Expertise

“Our real focus as a firm is on being in the flow of transactions,” says Adelson. One of the primary ways Houlihan accomplishes this goal is through intensive industry specialization, which provides a competitive advantage over other firms.

“A typical bulge bracket firm has a business services group. They might have a person who specializes in

Image by Scott Areman