Globally Integrated Firm with Innovative Advisory Solutions: We provide the high-touch
and conflict free benefits of an independent investment bank with the global reach,
sector depth and product expertise more commonly found at larger financial institutions.
With 17 offices located in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia
and Australia, we combine local and regional expertise with international market
knowledge to provide our clients with highly integrated information flow and strong
cross-border capabilities. We harness the deep industry expertise and broad corporate
finance experience of our 107 global Managing Directors, which include 67 former
sector and product heads from major investment banks. We reinforce our model with
a discretionary compensation structure that encourages a high degree of collaboration
and our "One Firm" mentality.
Advisory Focus with Strong Intellectual Capital: We primarily focus on advising
clients, unlike most of our major competitors who derive a large percentage
of their revenues from lending, trading and underwriting securities. We believe
this independence allows us to offer advice free from the actual or perceived
conflicts associated with lending to clients or trading in their securities.
In addition, our focus on advisory services frees us from the pressure of cross-selling
products, which we believe can distract from the dialogue with clients around
their long-term strategy, compromising the advice. We provide intellectual capital
based on our judgment, expertise and relationships combined with intense senior
level attention to all transactions. The business of delivering intellectual
capital allows us to operate a low risk and capital light model with attractive
profit margins. We are not exposed to the financial risk and regulatory requirements
that arise from, or the capital investments required in, balance sheet lending
and trading activities.
Fast Growing Global Independent Investment Bank: Since our inception in 2007,
we have achieved rapid growth, earning revenues of $552 million in 2015. During
this time however, the global financial crisis contributed to a 24% decrease
in the number of global completed M&A transactions from the peak levels
of 2007. We took advantage of the dislocation in the financial services industry
following the global financial crisis and capitalized on the unique opportunity
to hire Managing Directors who have on average 20 years of investment banking
experience. We believe the quality and scale of our global franchise and the
speed at which it has been achieved would be a challenge to replicate today.
Strong Financial Discipline: We have remained financially disciplined with
an intense focus on managing growth in a profitable manner. We hired aggressively
during the global financial crisis to take advantage of the dislocation among
our competitors and recently have taken a more measured approach to hiring as
the markets and compensation levels have stabilized. We incentivize our bankers
as owners by awarding equity compensation in order to align the interests of
our employees and equity holders, and our employees currently own a majority
of our Company. Additionally, we have focused on entering new regions and sectors
through creative and cost efficient strategies. We intend to maintain our financial
discipline as we continue to grow our revenues, expand into new markets and
increase our areas of expertise.
Significant Organic Growth Opportunities: We have made significant investments
in our intellectual capital with the hiring of 71 Managing Directors since 2010.
In addition, we have invested time and resources in our recruiting and training
and development programs. We established a meaningful presence at the top undergraduate
programs in our first year of operations, which has resulted in the hiring of
over 300 analysts from campus since our inception. We are poised to continue
realizing meaningful organic growth from these investments. We have achieved
critical size in key industry sectors and regions around the globe, as well
as recognition for advising on innovative transactions, which have enhanced
our brand globally. We are positioned to continue to grow revenues as a result
of increased individual productivity as our investments in people mature and
as we continue to leverage our global platform through enhanced connectivity
and idea generation and expanded brand recognition.
High Standard of Confidentiality and Discretion: Due to the highly sensitive
nature of M&A discussions where confidentiality is of paramount importance
to clients, the M&A business is most effectively operated on a "need
to know" basis. We believe that large financial conglomerates with multiple
divisions, "Chinese Walls" and layers of management have a significantly
greater number of employees who have access to sensitive client information,
which can increase the risk of confidential information leaking. Such leaks
can materially impair the viability of transactions and other strategic decisions.
We have established a high standard of confidentiality and discretion, as well
as instituted procedures designed to protect our clients and minimize the risk
of sensitive information leaking to the market.
Diversified Advisory Platform: Our business is highly diversified across sectors,
types of advisory services and clients. Our broad corporate finance expertise
positions us to advise clients through any phase of their life cycle and in
any economic environment. We focus on a wide range of clients from large public
multinational corporations to middle market private companies to individual
entrepreneurs, and we deliver the full resources of our firm and the highest
level of senior attention to every client, regardless of size or situation.
In addition, we have no meaningful client concentration, with our top 10 transactions
representing approximately 25% of our revenues in 2015. Our holistic "One
Firm" approach also reduces dependence on any one product or banker and
allows us to leverage our intellectual capital across the firm as necessary
to offer multiple solutions to our clients, increase our client penetration
and adapt to changing circumstances.
Partnership Culture: We believe that our momentum and commitment to excellence
have created an environment that attracts and retains high quality talent. Our
people are our most valuable asset and our goal is to attract, retain and develop
the best and brightest talent in our industry across all levels. We strive to
foster a collaborative environment, and we seek individuals who are passionate
about our business and are a fit with our culture. We have established a compensation
philosophy that reinforces our long-term vision and values by rewarding collaboration,
client impact and lasting relationships and encourages employees to put the
interests of our clients and our Company first. Above all, our core values nurture
a culture of partnership, passion, optimism and hard work, inspiring the highest
level of quality and integrity in every interaction with our clients and each
other.