Barclays Capital

Description: Thanks in part to Barclays Capital's assumption of much of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s investment bank in late 2008, its financial sponsors group jumped by 2010 to the No. 1 bookrunner of high-yield bonds for leveraged buyouts in the U.S., according to Barclays, and No. 2 arranger for LBO loans for the U.S., according to Thomson Reuters. In the first half of 2011, M&A advisory accounted for 13% of the group's business, equity capital markets 28% and debt services about 59%, according to Freeman Consulting Services/Thomson Reuters.

Size: More than 10 managing directors globally.

Leadership: John Miller, head of global financial sponsors; Matt Grinnell, head of financial sponsors in Europe; Joe McGrath, head of global leveraged finance; Jean-Francois Astier, head of Americas leveraged finance; Peter Toal, head of Americas leveraged finance syndicate; Tim Broadbent, head of Americas leveraged loan syndicate.

Clients: Close to 50 of the largest private equity firms globally, including Blackstone Group LP, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP, Carlyle Group, Bain Capital LLC, Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, CVC Capital Partners, Providence Equity Partners LLC, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC, Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, TPG Capital, Apollo Global Management LLC and Warburg Pincus, among others. About 140 middle-market firms.

Notable deals: Advised on LBOs including Emdeon Inc., BNY ConvergEx Group LLC, Blackboard Inc., Go Daddy Group Inc. and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. Lead underwriter on the financings for the LBOs of NBTY Inc., MultiPlan Inc., Syniverse Technologies Inc., Fairmount Minerals Ltd., Star West Generation LLC, Renal Advantage Inc., Presidio Inc., FilmYard Holdings LLC, Hillman Cos., ATI Holdings LLC, Filmyard Holdings LLC, Academy Sports + Outdoors and Capsugel.

Market insights and outlook: "In perhaps the most compelling validation of the viability and resilience of the private equity model, I predict that private equity funds with vintage years challenged by the most onerous market correction of our time will deliver investment returns that ultimately meaningfully outstrip their public market benchmarks," says Miller. "Fundamentally, the industry has defied the skeptics and proven its ability to thrive even amid the most challenging market conditions of our generation."

Notable stats: No. 1 for all financial sponsor-related equity capital markets transactions, year to date, according to Dealogic (excluding self-led issuance). Bookrunner on $11.08 billion, or more than 50%, of sponsor-backed IPOs, year to date. No. 1 in acquirer advisory roles, with $27.54 billion across 14 deals, for a 21.5% market share. Advised on 40% of LBOs larger than $1 billion for the period including 2010 and YTD 2011, according to Dealogic.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Description: Bank of America Merrill Lynch became a top fee earner as a result of Bank of America Corp.'s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. in January 2009. Has recently added new hires to its teams in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia. Increasingly focused on Brazil and Latin America.

Leadership: Karim Assef, head of global financial sponsors.

Size: NA.

Clients: Blackstone, CVC, Apollo Management LP, Bain Capital.

Notable deals: Lead bookrunner for HCA Holdings Inc., the largest sponsor-backed initial public offering in history. Advised and led the $5.3 billion LBO of Tomkins plc for Onex Corp., the largest completed LBO in 2010. Advised and led a $5.5 billion LBO of Del Monte Foods Co. for KKR, the largest completed LBO in 2011. Lead bookrunner on $800 million IPO in Brazil for Carlyle's Qualicorp Participações SA.

Market insights and outlook: "Equity market volatility and uncertainty regarding the economy can make for a good investing environment for sponsors, provided there is a workable financing market," writes Assef in an e-mail. "Exits will be more challenged, which is not ideal, especially given that many sponsors are in fundraising mode and would like to monetize investments."

Notable stats: $570.5 million in fees for the first half of 2011, according to Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data. Lead agent on 11 LBO financings YTD 2011 and 14 in 2010.

Citigroup Inc.

Description: Now 15 years old, Citigroup Inc.'s alternative investments group generally focuses on transactions greater than $500 million, with a core focus on deals greater than $1 billion. Also offers liability management and back-office services to large alternative asset and private equity clients. Has teams in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Japan, India and Brazil.

Size: Nine MDs and six directors globally. About 55 total in the group.

Leadership: Brad Coleman, global head; Chad Leat, chairman; Steve Conway, EMEA head; Chris Laskowski, Asia head.

Clients: Leading global and regional firms including Blackstone, Carlyle, TPG, Apollo, KKR, Apax Partners LLP, Cerberus, Bain, Fortress Investment Group LLC, CD&R, Leonard Green & Partners LP, Kelso & Co., Advent International Corp., Providence, Warburg, Onex, THL, CVC, Hellman & Friedman LLC, MBK Partners, Permira, among others. Covers 30 names intensely, but talks to 50-plus at least.

Notable deals: Stabilization agent on HCA's $4.3 billion IPO; lead bookrunner on Freescale Semiconductor Inc.'s $1 billion IPO; liability management transactions for Energy Future Holdings and First Data Corp. Advised and financed LBOs for Nexeo Solutions LLC, SRA International Inc. and Immucor Inc. Sell-side adviser to Cerberus Capital on Chrysler Financial Corp.'s sale to Toronto Dominion Bank.

Market insights and outlook: According to Coleman, the rest of the year will be active regardless of market conditions as firms look to either invest new money -- if valuations continue to cheapen and financing stays available -- or monetize existing holdings if markets rally.

Notable stats: Lead manager for 16 PE-backed IPOs YTD 2011, totaling $11.93 billion, according to Dealogic. Adviser on 14 LBOs worth $13.56 billion YTD 2011.

Credit Suisse Group

Description: Credit Suisse Group's private equity banking team dates back to Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, one of the original financial sponsors banking groups. Debt underwriting accounts for about 65% of the group's business, with M&A contributing 10% to 15% and equity capital markets the remainder.

Size: Nine MDs and five directors in the U.S.

Leadership: Malcolm Price, head of North Americas financial sponsors; Harold Bogle, global head of financial sponsor coverage.

Clients: 400 portfolio companies and about 200 PE firms, most with more than $1 billion in their latest funds.

Notable deals: Created first-ever "amend to extend" in March 2010 for CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., a publicly traded commercial real estate company. "The company needed to extend debt maturities at a time when debt markets were closed," says Price, adding that Credit Suisse, which had taken CB Richard Ellis public in 2004, negotiated with its banks to give the company an extension in exchange for higher rates and a partial pay-down of their holdings. "Subsequently, Paulson & Co. agreed to put in some equity, and we did a public offering of additional equity and a concurrent high-yield bond alongside their investment," adds Price.

Market insights and outlook: "Stability in the equity markets is what's needed in order for exits and IPOs to proceed," says Price. "Until we get that stability, people will generally take a wait-and-see approach."

Notable stats: Advised on 52 PE-backed deals worth $49.32 billion in 2010 and tied for most in number and second in dollar volume, according to Dealogic. Lead agent on 16 deals YTD 2011 and 11 in 2010, according to S&P's LCD.

Deutsche Bank AG

Description: Deutsche Bank AG's financial sponsors group went from being leveraged finance-centric five years ago to a more broad-based strategy. Regularly involved in the largest sponsor-backed IPOs and led the first sponsor-backed, post-crisis IPO for KKR- and Silver Lake-backed Avago Technologies Ltd. in August 2009. In first-half 2011, 32% of its fees came from equities business, with 64% from leveraged finance and the balance from advisory.

Size: Six MDs in New York, five in London, and a senior leader each in Sydney, Hong Kong and Tokyo. A little more than 40 people globally.

Leadership: John Eydenberg, global head of financial sponsors.

Clients: More than 100 sponsors with an emphasis on the largest PE firms.

Notable deals: Univar Inc. was going public in June 2010, and Deutsche Bank, which was working on the deal, noted there were others willing to pay an IPO valuation for the business. It then ran a sales process in which its client, CD&R, prevailed, creating a 50% partnership between it and owner CVC. Deutsche Bank also worked on a CD&R deal to buy a Tyco International Ltd. spinoff and on the $1.3 billion sale of Associated Materials LLC to Hellman & Friedman in 2010.

Market insights and outlook: Existing PE portfolio companies will look to do more opportunistic tack-ons, Eydenberg says. More nimble sponsors and those with broader mandates will opportunistically buy assets including real estate and credit.

Notable stats: Deutsche Bank was lead manager on 17 PE-backed IPOs through Aug. 17, according to Dealogic.

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Description: Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s financial sponsors group was created in 2003 to work with the largest funds. Uses firm's priority mezzanine and long-term debt funds to help finance deals. Now looking for more middle-market business, it has added asset-backed lending for middle-market sponsors and other new products to its mix.

Size: Numbers are not available, but the group has presence in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Leadership: Milton Berlinski, global head of financial sponsors investment banking. Alison Mass and Berlinski co-head the Americas financial sponsors group. Stefan Green and James McMurdo co-head the financial sponsors group in Europe, and Iain Drayton heads the business in Asia.

Clients: Approximately 200 large and middle-market sponsors.

Notable deals: Goldman provided Blackstone with a $325 million limited-recourse margin loan in July. The loan allowed Blackstone to borrow against its holdings of listed equities to generate funding on a nonrecourse basis with full-upside participation. Blackstone retained flexibility to reinvest or return funds to LPs, potentially resulting in a higher internal rate of return for the fund.

Market insights and outlook: "In the big scheme of the last 25 years, the last couple of years have been a phenomenal time to use leverage to buy companies, given the rates at which clients were able to raise capital," says Mass. "In the last month or so, the macro environment has increased those costs somewhat, but there is still significant capital available, and at rates that will still allow large deals to get done."

Notable stats: Earned $504.1 million in fees in the first half of 2011 and $675 million in 2010, according to Freeman Consulting Services/Thomson Reuters.

Houlihan Lokey Inc.

Description: Houlihan Lokey Inc.'s financial sponsors group provides M&A advisory services to private equity firms and target companies. Has more than 110 active sell-side assignments of various sizes and in various stages of completion, as well as a large number of active buy-side assignments.

Size: 21 senior calling officers located in nine offices around the world.

Leadership: John Mavredakis, senior MD and global head of financial sponsors; Justin Abelow, MD and head of private equity coverage; Mark Goldman, MD and head of hedge fund coverage.

Clients: Apax, Ares Management LLC, BC Partners Ltd., Carlyle, Centerbridge Partners LP, Court Square Capital Partners, Fortress, KPS Capital Partners LP, Metalmark Capital Holdings LLC, TPG, Wellspring Capital Management LLC.

Notable deals: Advised Primatics Financial LLC on its sale to Carlyle; Saugatuck Capital Inc., Najeti Ventures LLC and TWJ Capital LLC on their sale of Floor and Décor Outlets of America Inc. to Ares and Freeman Spogli & Co.; Key Principal Partners Corp. on its sale of Asimco Technologies Ltd. to Bain Capital; Swander Pace Capital on its sale of the Liberté yogurt business to Yoplait SAS.

Represented a steering committee of bondholders in the restructuring of middle-market private equity lender CIT Group Inc.

Market insights and outlook: Portfolio exits will accelerate, not slow, despite wobbly financing markets. The last shall be first: Some outsized returns will be generated by some perceived portfolio laggards from prosaic industries. Traditional stapled financing will lose share to second-generation "completed staples."

Notable stats: Closed transactions with more than 300 financial sponsors in 2010, according to Houlihan.

Jefferies & Co.

Description: Jefferies & Co.'s financial sponsors group doubled its size over the past three years and has begun to expand overseas. Besides leveraged finance, equities and M&A advisory, it also has a restructuring practice that focuses on private equity sponsors.

Size: 12 MDs. Seven in New York, two on the West Coast and three in Europe.

Leadership: Adam Sokoloff, global head of financial sponsors.

Clients: Funds between $1 billion and $5 billion make up about 55% of the group's business. Funds less than $1 billion compose between 20% and 30%, and funds greater than $5 billion represent the remainder.

Notable deals: Advised Wellspring on the sale of Dave & Busters Inc. to Oak Hill Capital Partners in March 2010. Then financed the secondary buyout and a subsequent dividend. Now one of two bookrunners on the anticipated initial public offering for Dave & Busters. Helped Stratus Technologies Inc., a MidOcean Partners portfolio company, restructure its second-lien loan in March 2010 and then helped to refinance the company's balance sheet.

Market insights and outlook: "We continue to evaluate and make new commitments on behalf of our sponsor clients," says Sokoloff.  "Given the current volatility in the markets, we are being prudent about using our capital. Pricing and flex has widened out relative to what it was a month ago. On a historic and absolute basis, interest rates remain low. At these levels, buyouts can still make sense."

Notable stats: Jefferies advised 19 financial sponsors buyouts in the first half of 2011, totaling $6.87 billion, according to Dealogic.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Description: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s financial sponsors group was the top fee earner in the first half of 2011, raking in $663.1 million for an 11.5% market share, according to Freeman Consulting Services/Thomson Reuters. Now includes Bear Stearns' team.

Size: 10 MDs globally.

Leadership: Larry Alletto in New York and Karen Simon in London, global co-heads of financial sponsors.

Clients: Mostly billion-dollar-plus buyout firms, but broad coverage of the middle market. Participated in 300 deals of less than $1 billion in the past 12 months and 92 deals greater than $1 billion. Clients include Carlyle, TPG, One Equity Partners LLC, SilverFleet Capital Partners LLP, H.I.G. Capital LLC, CCMP Capital Advisors LLC, among others.

Notable deals: Saved Carlyle $150 million by putting extra debt in the $3.9 billion buyout of CommScope Inc. The financing included $1.5 billion in bonds, a $1 billion covenant-lite loan and a $400 million revolver.

Notable stats: Bookrunner on 39 PE-backed IPOs globally in 2010, totaling $14.7 billion, the second-highest dollar volume and number. Bookrunner on 21 PE-backed IPOs, totaling $15 billion YTD 2011. Advised on 62 PE-backed M&A deals, worth $86.8 billion, for a market share of 26.1% YTD 2011, according to Dealogic. Globally, the firm was bookrunner for the financing of 22 buyouts in 2010, and 27 so far in 2011.

Moelis & Co.

Description: Moelis & Co.'s financial sponsors group advised on restructurings during the financial crisis and has now moved into more traditional M&A work. Sponsors account for more than 30% of the firm's revenue.

Size: Nine people.

Leadership: Roger Hoit, MD in New York; Todd Wadler, MD in Los Angeles; Michael Magliana, MD in London.

Notable deals: CVC's sale of 42.5% of Dutch chemicals distributor Univar to Clayton Dubilier in 2010, valuing the company at $4.2 billion. "Five partners were working on the deal," says Hoit, "including one of my senior M&A colleagues, Jeff Raich, because we thought that at some point the transaction might morph from an initial public offering to a targeted sell-side deal, and that is exactly what happened."

Market insights and outlook: "The recent pullback in the equity and leverage finance markets has significantly altered the landscape for portfolio monetizations for the balance of 2011," says Hoit. "For those companies planning to go the IPO route, valuations are down across the board -- in some sectors as much as 30% to 40%. Those sellers will either reduce price expectations or seek strategic interest."

Notable stats: Advised on 12 financial sponsors deals totaling $12.32 billion in the first half of 2011, for a 9.6% market share, compared with 5.2% of the dollar volume in all of 2010, when it advised on 16 deals for $10.72 billion, according to Dealogic.

Morgan Stanley

Description: About 45% of the revenue generated by Morgan Stanley's financial sponsors group comes from outside the U.S. Has expanded its coverage of middle-market private equity firms, with 70 of 310 deals completed in the past 12 months valued at less than $1 billion, according to Morgan Stanley.

Size: 75 people.

Leadership: Bill Sanders and Saul Nathan, global co-heads.

Notable deals: Morgan Stanley advised and was one of the underwriters for KKR's $5.3 billion acquisition of Del Monte in November, the largest post-­crisis LBO. Morgan Stanley's team, which included bankers from its consumer, retail, leveraged finance and sponsors coverage groups, had to rapidly assess Del Monte's business prospects as well as financing feasibility in what were then untested capital markets for a deal of such size.

Market insights and outlook: "Sponsors who have assets in individual markets are casting the net pretty wide when they think about monetizations," says Nathan. "You see bids coming in from Japanese corporates. You see Latin American sponsors figuring out there is a valuation arbitrage between where deals trade in Latin America and where they might trade in Asia. You are taking companies like Samsonite, a global business owned by a U.K.-based sponsor, CVC, and listing it in Hong Kong."

Notable stats: Lead manager on 22 PE-backed IPOs YTD 2011, and 47 in 2010, according to Dealogic. Advised the acquirer in 15 LBOs YTD 2011.

Macquarie Capital

Description: Macquarie Capital operates on a merchant banking model with particular specialties in media, resources, general industries, infrastructure, real estate and financial institutions.

Size: One vice chairman and four MDs working closely with five MDs in leveraged finance.

Leadership: Rob Redmond, vice chairman; MDs Jorge Mora, James Stone, Bill Baumgart and Matt Brown.

Clients: Four large-cap sponsors and 20 midcap sponsors, as well as industry-specialized firms, such as Aquiline Capital Partners LLC in the financial sector. Clients include Blackstone, Warburg, Providence, Kelso & Co., TowerBrook Capital Partners LP, Court Square, Rhône Group LLC, Francisco Partners, Platinum Equity LLC, CCMP, Oaktree Capital Management LP, Sun Capital Inc., Trilantic Capital Partners.

Notable deal: Provided acquisition financing and swiftly committed a $250 million investment to Cumulus Media Inc. CEO Lew Dickey and Crestview Partners for their purchase of Citadel Broadcasting Corp.

Market outlook and insights: "Private equity and Wall Street dislike uncertainty and we live in uncertain political and economic times," wrote the Macquarie sponsors group. "However, an unprecedented $2 trillion of liquidity, healthy balance sheets in Fortune 500 companies, low interest rates, and expiring 'dry-powder' LP commitments, will lead to increasing transaction activity and larger deals getting done."

Notable stats: Played major role in 21 PE deals since September 2010. In 2010 advised on six deals worth $8.26 billion, according to Dealogic.

UBS

Description: Historically focused on the middle market, the UBS financial sponsors group is now making a bigger push to cover the larger sponsors and their major deals. Accounts for at least 20% of the fees for UBS' investment bank, and looking to expand that further.

Size: 22 people, including six senior MDs.

Leadership: Matthew Stopnik, U.S. head; Michael Abraham and Mark Gallagher, co-heads for Europe; Christine Hsu, head for Asia ex-Japan; Hideo Nagura, Japan head; Michael Stock, head of Australia .

Clients: Actively covers 75-plus firms, including Apax, Apollo, Bain Capital, Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, Silver Lake, TPG, among others.

Notable deals: Acted as lead arranger on the $1.07 billion loan financing of KKR's April buyout of Capsugel. The financing includes a $150 million revolver and a $920 million covenant-lite term loan that priced at LIBOR plus 400 points with a 1.25% floor at 99.5.

Was one of two bookrunners to provide the $2.1 billion financing commitment to support Access Industries Inc.'s acquisition of Warner Music Group.

Market insights and outlook: "Despite some near-term headwinds, PE activity will continue," writes UBS. "As the capital markets will be more selective in the near to medium term, the volume of activity will remain lighter on a relative basis, though it will likely ramp up in 2012 as primary investor demand returns to the loan and high yield markets."

Notable stats: Acquirer adviser in 14 leveraged buyouts YTD 2011, totaling $27.54 billion, for 21.5% market share, according to Dealogic; $405.3 million in fees for 7% market share first-half 2011, according to Freeman Consulting Services/Thomson Reuters.