Houlihan Lokey says U.S. head of M&A group has died: Reuters

(Reuters) — Investment bank Houlihan Lokey said on Monday that Gregg Feinstein, its U.S. head of mergers and acquisitions, had died.

The bank gave no details on the cause or timing of his death.

Feinstein, 54, was well-known across both the M&A and activist hedge fund sectors. Houlihan Lokey led all banks in the practice of advising activist investors on their investments in publicly traded companies, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The mid-sized investment bank was No. 6 overall in the 2015 activism rankings for banks, Thomson Reuters data show.

The bank’s U.S. M&A business will be overseen by global head Steven Tishman in the interim, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who did not want to be named, was still trying to determine how Feinstein died and said he believed the death occurred on Saturday.

Feinstein worked on the recapitalizations of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts and luggage maker Samsonite Corp, according to Houlihan’s website.

He was a founder of M&A boutique Berenson Minella & Co, where he spent 12 years and was its chief operating officer. He also worked at Merrill Lynch as well as Lehman Brothers.

Before joining Houlihan Lokey in 2005, Feinstein ran the M&A Group at Jefferies & Co.

Feinstein was married and lived in New York City. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1983 and started at Lehman Brothers that year, according to his LinkedIn profile.