Mr. Kent is a Managing Director and Global Head of Houlihan Lokey’s Business Services Group and leads the firm’s Testing, Inspection, Certification & Compliance practice areas. He is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Kent is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office.
During his career as an investment banker, Mr. Kent has advised many leading companies in all facets of their businesses, including M&A, debt and equity recapitalizations, and traditional debt, equity, and equity-linked financings. Over the course of his tenure at the firm, he has been involved in a wide range of domestic and cross-border transactions across a variety of industries, aerospace and defense, industrials, and engineering and consulting. Mr. Kent has extensive cross-border experience working with clients in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Kent worked in Bear Stearns & Co. Inc.’s Investment Banking Division, where he focused on M&A, leveraged finance, and financing opportunities in the consumer, retail, restaurant, industrials, and technology industries. Previously, he was with CIBC World Markets Technology Investment Banking Group. Mr. Kent was selected by Los Angeles Business Journal as one of 2013’s Most Influential M&A Advisors.
Mr. Kent earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from Brandeis University and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.