TORONTO, June 2 (Reuters) - Bank of Montreal BMO.TO said
on Thursday that it would acquire Greene Holcomb Fisher, a
U.S.-based merger and acquisition advisory firm, in a push to
strengthen its investment banking business in the United States,
particularly in the Midwest.
The move will help Toronto-based BMO, Canada's fourth
biggest lender, double its U.S. M&A business, based on the
number of deals.
Based in Minneapolis, Greene Holcomb Fisher offers
investment banking services targeted at the middle market, an
area that BMO has been focusing on in the United States. It also
has offices in Seattle and Atlanta.
BMO, which did not disclose the terms of the deal, said the
two firms advised on M&A deals valued at $77 billion in 2015.
The capital markets division of Bank of Montreal expanded
aggressively in the United States since the financial crisis and
has been starting to see those efforts pay off.
Other Canadian banks that are active in the U.S. investment
banking market include Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO and Toronto
Dominion Bank TD.TO .
RBC has become a top ten player in U.S. investment banking,
and TD said last year it was looking to double its U.S. capital
markets business in three to four years.