Greenhill & Co.

Greenhill & Co.

Robert Greenhill launched the firm in 1996 after three decades at Morgan Stanley, where he had risen to president before a leadership rift. The founding thesis was simple: clients wanted Goldman-level M&A advice without Goldman's proprietary-trading portfolio or balance-sheet conflicts. Greenhill structured the firm as a pure advisory boutique, earning fees solely from unbiased guidance on mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and private capital advisory. It went public in 2004 but maintained a partnership ethos, with managing directors holding substantial equity. The firm never expanded into trading or principal investing, preserving a conflict-free mandate that became its signature in an industry where many rivals cross-sell financing alongside advice. The firm's M&A practice covers cross-border deals, corporate divestitures, and defense advisory. Restructuring assignments have included creditor-side roles in complex Chapter 11 proceedings. The private capital advisory group, built later, focuses on secondary transactions and GP-led restructurings, connecting Greenhill to the alternative-asset ecosystem. Notable mandates have included advising on significant energy sector consolidations and European industrials deals. The geographic footprint spans North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific offices in London, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Madrid, and Sydney, with a Latin American presence through a strategic partnership in Brazil. Greenhill operated as a public company for nearly two decades until Mizuho, Japan's third-largest bank by assets, acquired it in 2023 for roughly $550 million. Scott Bok, who led the firm for many years as CEO and later chairman, retired following the acquisition. The Mizuho deal embedded Greenhill into a global banking group while publicly committing to preserve the advisory boutique's independent, conflict-free model — a pledge that will be tested as the combined entity pursues cross-border Japan-linked M&A mandates in North America and Europe. Greenhill's structural differentiator was always its unitary product focus. It never lent money, never traded securities, and never managed third-party capital. That stripped-down model meant when the M&A cycle turned, there was no trading desk or credit portfolio to cushion revenue — but also no hidden liabilities. Under Mizuho ownership, the firm gains balance-sheet backing for its bankers without formally changing the advisory-only mandate, creating a hybrid that few boutiques have attempted at this scale.