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Rising Sun; Greenhill's advance into Japan symbolizes the investment bank's rise amid the chaos roiling the rest of Wall Street. Co-CEO Scott Bok outlines the firm's strategy.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Jonathan Marino

Greenhill & Co. in October made its first foray into the Japanese M&A market, stealthily picking up industry veterans from struggling, outsized bulge-bracket banks. The listed bank's addition of former Morgan Stanley Japan chairman Kensuke Hotta and Hiroto Yamada, who previously worked as Merrill Lynch's head of Japanese M&A, immediately gave Greenhill a player in the region, where it still seeks to add seasoned professionals.

As the biggest investment banks struggle to tread water, Greenhill co-chief executive Scott Bok took time to talk with Mergers & Acquisitions Journal to discuss why Japan's M&A prospects may well be better than many other markets around the world, and why private equity there might see stiffer competition.

He also discusses why Greenhill may be positioned to thrive in this environment and make similar moves to the Japan expansion in other regions and industries.

M&A: What is it that drew Greenhill to the Japanese economy?

Bok: In our industry globally, we're finding ourselves with fewer competitors than we've had historically. The competitors we do have are merging together into larger entities that tend to be more like traditional banks, more focused on lending and a wide variety of products they can sell to clients. So, there's a real opening for a trusted adviser with [relationships to] major corporations like we have in the US and Europe.

Japan is a significant M&A market, and one that we've...

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