Mizuho agrees $550 million deal for boutique investment bank Greenhill

Mizuho has agreed to buy Wall Street investment bank Greenhill & Co in a $550 million deal, as one of Japan’s largest financial institutions seeks to accelerate its expansion in the US.

The Japanese financial services group said it would pay $15 a share for Greenhill, where shares of the US boutique investment bank more than doubled on Friday.

Founded by Robert Greenhill nearly three decades ago, Greenhill was one of the first boutique M&A advisors to go public. After rising in the years immediately following the IPO, the group’s shares have declined as Greenhill has faced stiff competition from peers and large investment banks.

Mizuho, ​​which has been building up its US investment banking operations in recent years, said Greenhill will sit within its existing banking division and will be led by Michael Katz, its current head of banking in the Americas.