Houlihan Lokey acquired Milestone Advisors LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based investment banking firm.

Milestone provides mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, asset valuation and sale advisory services to clients. The firm has offices in Washington D.C., New York, Newport Beach, Calif. and Miami.

Milestone’s team will be combined with Houlihan’s financial institutions group, with most of Milestone’s employees relocating to Houlihan’s McLean, Va. office.

Houlihan is a Los Angeles-based investment bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring and valuation. It has offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. 

The firm worked on Church & Dwight Co. Inc.’s acquisition of Avid Health Inc. and Capmark’s confirmed reorganization plan.

The deal closed on Dec. 31. Each firm served as its own adviser. Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP served as Houlihan’s legal counsel, while Baker Botts LLP was Milestone’s legal counsel.

In recent years, there has been a wave of consolidation among boutique banks. Other recent investment bank deals include the merger of Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) and Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE: LUK). In October, investment bank MLV & Co. acquired a 49 percent stake in Westport Capital Markets, an investment advisory firm and broker dealer. Also in October, investment bank Moelis & Co. acquired Freeport Financial Partners LLC. In January 2012, law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP bought M&A advisory firm Morgan Keegan.

Financial services industry Investment banking