Greenhill & Co. closes sale of some merchant banking assets in move to focus on advisory work
By APWednesday, December 23, 2009
Greenhill closes sale of merchant banking assets
NEW YORK — Boutique investment bank Greenhill & Co. on Wednesday said it closed the sale of some of its merchant banking businesses, a step taken as part of its planned shift to focus exclusively on its advisory business.
The company said on Oct. 28 it would sell the right to launch successor funds to its three merchant banking funds as part of the transition out of that segment of its business.
Greenhill closed the sale to Robert H. Niehaus, chairman of Greenhill Capital Partners, and V. Frank Pottow, a member of the investment committee of Greenhill Capital Partners, in exchange for 289,050 shares of common stock.
Shares closed Tuesday at $82.36, which values the transaction at just over $23.8 million. The sale price at the time of the announcement was $25 million, payable mostly in Greenhill shares.
Niehaus will remain a senior adviser with Greenhill, and will continue to manage existing funds for the company.
Greenhill plans to keep its existing portfolio of principal investments, which were valued at $178.5 million on Sept. 30.
