Mizuho Buys a Boutique Past Its Prime in Greenhill
The Japanese company will need to worry about how much talent is left at the merger advisory firm and how much it will have to pay to attract more.
Merging the storied Greenhill brand into Mizuho is more rescue than renaissance.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
The problem with buying a business based on talent is that talent can leave. Technologies, pharmaceuticals, oil, airlines: You buy them, you own them. People, not so much. In acquiring Greenhill & Co., Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is making a $550 million bet that it can persuade the investment bank’s talent to stay put. That’s great, but it should worry about how much of it has left already.
If that sounds harsh, it’s because it is. Advisory banking is tough. You are selling yourself, and if people aren’t buying, it’s probably because you aren’t delivering enough. What that means in real terms is that you, the independent investment banker, don’t have enough relationships, or that the relationships you do have are not translating into fees. And if that sounds simple, it’s because it is.