Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey, Inc.
	File:HL Logo.jpg
Company type	Subsidiary of ORIX USA
Industry	Investment services
Founded	Los Angeles, California, United States (1972)
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California
Products	Financial Services; Investment Banking
Website	www.HL.com

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. is an international investment bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California that advises middle-market and large public and private companies. Its main service lines include mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, financial opinions, and valuations. As of 2011, Houlihan Lokey was one of the largest private investment banks, employing over 900 employees worldwide.

History

1970s

Founded in Los Angeles in 1972, Houlihan Lokey offered general business advisory services to privately held companies. The 1974 passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act launched the firm’s valuation business by creating demand for independent valuations of private businesses, particularly those that had formed employee stock ownership programs.

1980s

In the mid-1980s, Houlihan Lokey established an investment banking division to provide other corporate finance products, including M&A advisory services and financing. By 1987, management concluded that many of the leveraged transactions completed earlier in the decade were potentially overleveraged and that a market was developing for bankruptcy and distressed M&A advice. At that time, Houlihan Lokey began assembling its financial restructuring group, which advises distressed companies and creditors in bankruptcy/Chapter 11 and out-of-court options that are bankruptcy alternatives.^[1] The firm also began to market estate planning valuation services and quickly became one of the country’s leading “estate freeze” valuation experts.

With the surge of mergers, acquisitions and leveraged buyouts, Wall Street’s largest investment banking firms began calling on Houlihan Lokey for independent valuation expertise in fairness, solvency and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) opinions. The firm advised on transactions valued at more than $100 billion during this period.

A financial vanguard, Houlihan Lokey correctly predicted the formation of a market for financial restructuring advisory services, in 1987. To position itself to serve this burgeoning market, the firm purchased Cheviot Capital Corporation and began assembling what would become one of the most active, dominant worldwide financial restructuring groups. In addition, the firm opened several offices in the ’80s in New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

1990s

Houlihan Lokey opened eight offices across the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s as it expanded. In 1995, to grow its information services division, Houlihan Lokey acquired Mergerstat, a publishing company with a 30-year history as the leader in analytical M&A research, from Merrill Lynch.

2000s

In 2001, Houlihan Lokey launched its first non-U.S. office by expanding into London. The firm opened a Paris office in 2005 and a Frankfurt office in 2006. It also expanded its industry group platform and private equity coverage program in keeping with investment banking trends.

In 2002, Houlihan Lokey advised the official creditors committees in the three largest bankruptcies of all time: WorldCom, Enron and Conseco, making the firm one of the highly regarded banks in the world.

In 2006, Houlihan Lokey agreed to merge with ORIX USA, the U.S. corporate lending operations of ORIX Corp. of Japan, to address the growing international demand for middle-market investment banking services. Houlihan Lokey opened offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo in 2007. The firm's 14th office opened in Beijing in 2008.

Rankings

Houlihan Lokey has won the Best Investment Banking Firm Award several times over the last few years, more so than competitors Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and The Blackstone Group. The firm has led Mergers & Acquisitions Journal’s annual M&A fairness opinion advisory rankings for the past seven years. It was named International Financing Review's European Restructuring House and has advised the creditors’ committees in four of the largest U.S. bankruptcies: Lehman Brothers, Enron, WorldCom and Conseco Inc.

Here is a brief list of the 2010 awards won by Houlihan Lokey:

• No. 1 M&A Advisor for U.S. Transactions Under $1 Billion, Thomson Reuters

• No. 1 Global M&A Fairness Opinion Advisor Over the Past 10 Years, Thomson Reuters

• No. 1 Global Investment Banking Restructuring Advisor, Thomson Reuters

• Investment Banking Firm of the Year, M&A Advisor International Awards

• Valuation Firm of the Year, M&A Advisor International Awards

• Debt Financing Deal-Maker of the Year, M&A Advisor International Awards

• Middle-Market M&A Financing Deal of the Year for a Healthcare industry deal, M&A Advisor International Awards

• Best Middle-Market Investment Bank, Buyouts Magazine

In 2011, Vault.com named Houlihan Lokey the Best Bank to work for in 2011, being first ranked first in Compensation, Selectivity, Diversity, Hours, Training, Employee Satisfaction, Business Outlook and Culture.

Industries

Houlihan Lokey industry group bankers focus on sectors that include:

Aerospace Building Products Business Services Chemicals Consumer Products Defense and Government Services Energy Financial Institutions Healthcare Industrial & Environmental Technologies Industrials Automotive Infrastructure ServicesConstruction Lodging & Leisure Mass Media Materials Engineering Metals Plastics & Packaging Real Estate Retail & Food Sports & Entertainment Technology Telecommunications Transportation & Logistics