Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI), the global investment bank, announced today that Joseph Lombardo has joined the firm as Head of Private Equity General Partner Advisory, a new practice within the Financial Institutions Group and an addition to the firm’s suite of services for financial sponsor general partners.
In this new role, Mr. Lombardo will assist general partners with a broad range of sponsor-level strategic matters including GP minority and majority stake sales, acquisitions, joint ventures, product development, succession planning, and establishment of private and permanent capital vehicles, among others.
Mr. Lombardo joins from Stonyrock Partners, where he was a Principal on the investment team for the Stonyrock Alts Fund, a permanent capital vehicle focused on strategic equity stakes in middle-market alternative asset managers across a range of asset classes, strategies, and geographies. Prior to Stonyrock, Mr. Lombardo was at The Carlyle Group where he most recently was an investment professional on the firm’s GP minority stakes strategy and was previously in Carlyle Corporate Development, a group focused on developing and executing Carlyle’s firm strategy. Mr. Lombardo’s previous experience also includes researching and advising asset managers at J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
Over the past decade, Houlihan Lokey has steadily added products and services that assist general partners, including its Capital Markets Group, the Private Funds Group, and General Partner Fund Advisory practice. These services, alongside Houlihan Lokey’s long-standing, market-leading Financial Sponsors Group, Hedge Fund Coverage, and Portfolio Valuation and Fund Advisory Services practice help serve more than 900 financial sponsors around the world.
“We’re delighted that Joseph has brought his insight and experience to Houlihan Lokey to formalize and lead this practice,” said Scott Adelson, Co-President and Global Co-Head of Corporate Finance. “The addition of sponsor-level strategic expertise, combined with our other general partner-focused products and services across the firm, underscores our continuing commitment to financial sponsors and our steadfast dedication to delivering a truly comprehensive offering to this client base.”
“Houlihan Lokey’s breadth and depth of financial sponsor relationships is perhaps the most comprehensive in financial services,” said Mr. Lombardo. “There is a tremendous opportunity to build on the access that those relationships create and assist general partners, particularly those in the middle-market segment. I look forward to working with general partners to navigate the evolving private equity GP asset class and to take advantage of the numerous long-term and day-to-day strategic opportunities now afforded to general partners. I’m excited to join the Financial Institutions Group and help Houlihan Lokey’s clients continue to grow and evolve in this developing market.”