QUAYLE Munro, the Edinburgh corporate finance business that moved to London after focusing on media and technology, has been sold to US investment banking heavyweight Houlihan Lokey for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition will allow Houlihan Lokey to add data and analytics advisory services to its offering in a move the Los Angeles-based firm reckons will make it the global leader in a rapidly expanding field.
“Data & analytics has become virtually ubiquitous, and its importance in analyzing trends, enhancing productivity, and growing one’s business cannot be overstated,” said Houlihan Lokey chief executive Scott Beiser.
The takeover of Quayle Munro from private investors including directors of the firm will also help Houlihan Lokey increase work with financial institutions in Europe, and build on its presence in financial technology and education.
The forty Quayle Munro staff will join Houlihan Lokey.
The sale comes six years after Quayle Munro decided to focus on the corporate finance market in London, which it thought offered richer pickings than work run out of Edinburgh.
The company sold its project finance business, which specialized in areas such as infrastructure, to a management buyout team. The project finance business remains based in Edinburgh and trades as QMPF.
Founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Ian Quayle Jones and Mike Munro, Quayle Munro had achieved renown advising on privatisations and private finance initiative projects.
The company became increasingly active in the wider advisory market after buying the London-based New Boathouse Capital corporate finance business led by former Barings director Peter Norris in 2007. The following year it acquired another London firm, Van Tulleken, which specialised in the media and information technology sectors.
Mr Jones stepped down as chairman in 2010.
Former Van Tulleken banker Andrew Adams became chief executive in 2012.
He will lead Houlihan Lokey’s data and analytics group and serve as co-head of its U.K. corporate finance business.
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