Houlihan Lokey, Inc. announced an additional expansion of its Private Funds Group (PFG) with the appointment of a team of four managing directors from Greenhill & Co. to significantly strengthen its U.S. Primary practice. The additions establish Houlihan Lokey as one of the only investment banks in the industry with a single integrated team focused on primary capital raising, secondary capital advisory, direct equity fundraising, and GP stakes advisory.

These hires follow the announcement in December 2023 of the acquisition of Triago Management Development in a major expansion of Houlihan Lokey?s Private Funds Group, led by Global Co-Heads Andy Lund and Cristina Forcina Westermann. With more than 20 years? experience in raising private capital, Tom Donovan has joined the firm as a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Primary, based in Chicago.

At Greenhill & Co., he built and led the Primary Private Capital Advisory business, having joined the firm in 2021 from Mercury Capital Advisors, where he was Head of North America. Mr. Donovan formerly held a senior role in the private capital advisory team at Lazard and started his career and spent eight years with Credit Suisse in New York and Chicago. Ryan Carey and Sean Joffe have joined as Managing Directors and Co-Heads of U.S. Primary Distribution, based in New York, having worked previously together at Greenhill helping to lead the U.S. distribution effort.

Mr. Carey has worked for the past 19 years in capital raising and distribution roles at Jefferies, Sixpoint Partners, HSBC, and Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Joffe was a Managing Director at both Greenhill and Sixpoint Partners and worked in senior distribution roles focused on institutional capital raising. Mr. Joffe began his career in the Financial Sponsors Group at Credit Suisse.

Paul Tam has joined as a Managing Director to lead U.S. Primary distribution on the West Coast, based in San Francisco after three years at Greenhill with a similar role. Prior to this, Mr. Tam was a Partner at Mercury Capital Advisors, where he focused on institutional capital raising in the western region of the U.S. and Canada. During his 30-year career, he has also held senior roles at Brookfield Asset Management, J.P. Morgan, and UBS, having started his banking career with Morgan Stanley.