Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey, Inc.
	File:HL Logo.jpg
Company type	Private
Industry	Investment banking
Founded	1972
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, United States
Key people	Scott Beiser, Co-CEO; Jeff Werbalowsky, Co-CEO
Products	Financial Services; Investment Banking
Number of employees	800 (2011)
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, capital markets, restructuring, fairness opinions, and valuations. As of 2011, Houlihan Lokey was one of the largest private investment banks, employing over 800 employees worldwide. Houlihan Lokey was named the Best Bank to work for the last four years by Vault.com, obtaining first place in over half of the categories including Employee Satisfaction, Compensation and Selectivity. The firm was also named the No.1 M&A advisor for U.S. transactions under $2 billion, the No. 1 Global M&A Fairness Opinion Advisor Over the Past 10 Years, and the No. 1 Global Investment Banking Restructuring Advisor by Thomson Reuters.

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 opened an office in Beijing, Mumbai and Singapore the next three years.

Business Overview

Corporate Finance (M&A and Capital Markets)

Widely recognized as a leading M&A advisor, Houlihan Lokey has longstanding relationships with capital providers, including commercial banks and other senior credit providers, insurance funds, asset managers and mezzanine fund investors. In addition, through the comprehensive financial sponsors’ coverage, the firm provides ready access to equity investors. Few investment banks maintain the breadth of relationships and capital markets intelligence that Houlihan Lokey does. In 2010, Thomson Reuters ranked the firm the No.1 M&A advisor for U.S. transactions under $2 billion.

In 2010, Tad Flynn came from UBS AG where he was the Global Head of the Alternative Capital Markets group to start the Capital Markets group. From 2006 to 2008, Tad Flynn and his team raised in excess of $10BN in over 60 transactions.

Financial Advisory Services

Over the past 40 years, Houlihan Lokey has established one of the largest worldwide financial advisory practices. The transaction expertise and leadership in the field of valuation inspire confidence in the financial executives, boards of directors, special committees, investors and business owners we serve. This group operates in Opinion Services, Transaction & Valuation Reporting Services, Portfolio Valuation & Advisory Services and Financial Consulting. In 2010, Thomson Reuters ranked Houlihan Lokey the No. 1 Global M&A Fairness Opinion Advisor over the past 10 years. In addition, the firm was named Valuation Firm of the Year at the 2010 M&A Advisor International Awards.

Financial Restructuring

With nearly 175 professionals worldwide, this team responds quickly in complicated situations. Every assignment is staffed with professionals who facilitate prompt completion of due diligence and analysis. Houlihan Lokey advises in many of the largest, most complex distressed deals over the past decade. During this period the firm advised on almost 1000 restructuring transactions, special situations or Distressed M&A, with aggregate debt claims in excess of $1.5 trillion, including four of the five largest of all time: Lehman Brothers, WorldCom, General Motors and CIT Group. In 2010, Houlihan Lokey received the Restructuring of the Year Award by the International Financing Review.

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 $2 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 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