Mr. Stephens is a Managing Director and a member of Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Sponsors Group. He has broad experience in a wide range of sellside and buyside M&A transactions, having advised North American public and private companies pursuing mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and exclusive sale mandates. In addition, he has advised on numerous strategic alternative advisory engagements and fairness opinions. Mr. Stephens’ prior roles at Houlihan Lokey were in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group and the Consumer, Food & Retail Group, where he was one of the leaders in the retail practice. He is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Stephens worked as an Associate in Ernst & Young’s Corporate Finance group in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, participating in multiple sellside and buyside transactions, including the sale of Columbia Falls Aluminum Company to Glencore and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s acquisition of Hard Candy. He also worked in Ernst & Young’s Assurance and Advisory Business Services division, where he provided general business advisory services to clients of the entrepreneurial services group.
Mr. Stephens holds a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a Certified Public Accountant.