Houlihan Lokey’s Adelson Gets $7.6 Million as 2013 Loan Forgiven

(Bloomberg) -- Houlihan Lokey Inc., the investment bank that had an initial public offering 13 months ago, paid co-President Scott Adelson about $7.6 million in compensation for the fiscal year ended March 31 as the company boosted his annual stock grant and forgave a loan from 2013.

The sum includes a stock award of $5.7 million, up from $75,000 a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based bank said Friday in a regulatory filing. Also in the package is $1.21 million reflecting forgiveness of outstanding principal and interest on the loan. His salary was $400,000 and he got a bonus of almost $300,000 in connection with the IPO.

Adelson’s role involves helping clients with “all aspects of corporate finance, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and the issuance of debt and equity capital,” the company said in a passage explaining his qualifications for the board of directors. “He possesses particular knowledge and experience in strategic planning.” He has been with the company more than 28 years.

His 2016 package is more than double the compensation given to either Chief Executive Officer Scott Beiser or Executive Chairman Irwin Gold, but both of those long-time executives hold more company stock. Part of Adelson’s equity award involved the grant of $2 million in shares of a former parent company, which he converted to Houlihan Lokey stock, according to the filing.

Houlihan Lokey raised more than $253 million in its IPO, issuing stock for $21 a share. The stock changed hands for $24.42 at 2:20 p.m. in New York, down 1.2 percent from Thursday’s closing price.

To contact the reporters on this story: Katherine Chiglinsky in New York at kchiglinsky@bloomberg.net, Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brandon Kochkodin at bkochkodin@bloomberg.net, Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net.