Financial Analyst (Class of 2027) - General Partner (GP) Advisory

Business Unit:

Industry:

Overview

Capital Solutions

About the Group

Houlihan Lokey's General Partner Advisory ("GPA") team operates as a focused, senior-led unit within one of the world's most powerful advisory platforms. We advise the founders and managing partners of leading private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure firms on the most important firm-level decisions they will make: who will own a piece of their business, on what terms, and when.

These are not public processes you can read about on MergerMarket. They are private conversations, among the most sensitive a firm's leadership will ever have. Our clients do not advertise that they are considering a stake sale. They call us.

We run competitive sell-side processes on their behalf, negotiating outcomes that reflect the full strategic and financial value of what our clients have built.

GPA sits at the intersection of Houlihan Lokey's M&A platform (#1 globally for ten consecutive years) and its Capital Solutions platform, one of the largest private capital advisory practices in financial services. While the platform is large, GPA is a lean team offering direct interaction with our global leaders on every deal. We invest our time in high-probability strategic discussions with potential clients and live mandates, not idea books or think pieces.

Why GP Stakes? Why Now?

As alternative asset managers grow, institutionalize, and plan for generational succession, the sale of minority stakes in their management companies has become one of the most strategic decisions a GP will make. The global alternative asset management industry is on track to surpass $20 trillion in AUM. Demand for what we do has never been stronger, and it is not reliant on the traditional M&A cycle.

The Role

As a Financial Analyst on the GPA team, you will be a full participant in live M&A transactions from day one. Analysts at GPA work directly alongside Managing Directors and Vice Presidents on every stage of our sell-side processes, including:

• Transaction execution: Driving sell-side M&A processes end-to-end, from initial mandate through CIM drafting, model creation, buyer diligence, and closing

• Financial modeling: Building and owning the financial models, valuations, and supplementary analyses that underpin our client recommendations

• Client materials: Helping the managing partners of top-tier private capital platforms articulate what makes their firms must-own businesses, through CIMs, management presentations, and deal documents that go directly to the most sophisticated institutional GP stake buyers in the world

Who We're Looking For

We don't run a large analyst class. We hire selectively, train intensively, and expect analysts to contribute quickly. If you are looking for a program with many new Analysts joining your team each year, we are not the right fit. If you want to become an expert quickly, on a lean team, in a field growing faster than almost anything else in finance, this is where to do it.

Required

• Graduating with a bachelor's or master's degree between December 2026 and June 2027

• Intellectual curiosity about private markets, alternative asset management, and the evolving landscape of GP economics

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; our work product goes to the CEOs and CFOs of leading private capital firms

• A strong work ethic and the drive to take ownership of your work product

Preferred

• Proficiency in financial modeling (Excel) and a solid foundation in valuation methodologies (DCF, comparable companies, precedent transactions)

• Familiarity with or strong interest in the private capital ecosystem: private equity fund structures, management company economics, carried interest, and GP/LP dynamics

A Note for Candidates

GPA is a growing team. Analysts here are not one of hundreds. You will be known by name, your work will be seen by clients, and your trajectory will not be determined by a forced ranking curve.

Because we advise GPs at the firm level, not the fund level or deal level, GP Advisory sees the private markets industry from an angle that is impossible to replicate in other investment banking roles. We know which firms are growing and which are navigating succession. We know who is expanding into new strategies, and who is fielding approaches from the world's largest capital allocators. Analysts who come through GPA leave with a map of the private capital universe that most professionals spend a career trying to build.

If you want to be a meaningful contributor on real transactions in one of the fastest growing areas of private markets, this is your seat.

Compensation and Benefits

$110,000-$110,000

Houlihan Lokey provides a competitive benefits package. Our current benefits offerings can be found here:

2026 Benefits

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.