Global M&A Network Taps Brown, Gibbons, Lang As Its Principal U.S. Firm

Global M&A, an international consortium of leading independent investment banks that focus primarily on middle market business transactions in Europe, Latin America and the Far East, has selected Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company, a Midwest-based investment banking firm that focuses on similar business transactions throughout the U.S., to be the principal member representing Global M&A in the United States. BGL’s selection was based upon its broad coverage of the U.S. middle markets, its increasing expertise in cross-border transactions, and recommendations from its international client base. The prime purpose of Global M&A is to originate and facilitate cross-border acquisitions and divestitures as well as institutional private placements on behalf of middle market businesses and their owners. With the addition of BGL, the Global M&A network consists of 17 firms covering more than 20 countries in Europe, North America, South and Central America, Asia, and Australia. The organization has its origins in the early 1990’s as an informal association of mostly European M&A firms seeking to capitalize on the acceleration of cross-border M&A activity among European middle market companies. It quickly developed into a global network of firms who formalized their association under the “Global M&A” banner in 1999. Member firms assist multinationals, privately owned companies, private equity investors and financial institutions in completing middle market mergers and acquisitions, corporate financings, financial restructurings, and related matters. Last year, the network completed over 100 transactions totaling an estimated $3.5 billion in enterprise values. Approximately 10% of these deals involved member firms working cooperatively to complete cross-border transactions for their clients.

Barrie Pearson, Chairman of Global M&A and Principal of Tenon Livingstone Guarantee, the London-based founding member of Global M&A, commented on the selection of BGL: “We had been looking for an investment banking firm in North America that shares our firms’ high standards, conducts business throughout the U.S., and has experience with international transactions and clientele. We learned of BGL when the firm was recommended to us by a London based multinational that had just successfully engaged BGL to complete a difficult sale of one of its businesses to a U.S. buyer. We then met some of BGL’s senior bankers, and we knew right away that they were the right firm to represent the Global M&A network in the U.S. We are delighted they have agreed to join us.”

Notes Scott H. Lang, co-head of Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company and head of the firm’s Chicago office, “Through the power and reach of the Global M&A network, we can offer our clients significantly greater access to buyers and sellers of middle market businesses around the world and be more effective in helping them establish new international strategic relationships. In return, BGL provides the Global M&A network members enhanced access to the U.S., the largest M&A and private capital marketplace in the world, and that will be of sizeable benefit to their clients. Our firms now have the kind of local presence in markets around the world that only the largest investment banks typically enjoy, and that’s becoming increasingly important as the middle market continues to globalize. We are honored to have been selected by Global M&A to be its principal member covering the U.S. marketplace.”

Adds Michael E. Gibbons, the other co-head of Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company and head of the firm’s Cleveland office, “As a firm servicing middle market companies, we are always seeking opportunities to help our clients grow. And for our larger corporate divestiture clients, we can now more effectively sell or source middle market sized businesses virtually anywhere in the world. Our business has become increasingly international over the past few years, and joining Global M&A makes sense.”