NEW YORK – June 9, 2010 – Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Chris Croft, Managing Director in the firm’s New York office, has been named Co-Head of its Fairness Opinion practice. Chris also serves as Co-Head of the firm’s Solvency Opinion practice, and during his career has completed more than 250 fairness and solvency opinion assignments related to buyside and sellside mergers and acquisitions, going-private transactions, debt and equity offerings, spin-offs, stock repurchases and asset sales. He has served as a member of the firm’s Fairness Opinion Committee since 2005.

Houlihan Lokey is an international investment bank with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring, and valuation. More boards of directors and special committees turn to Houlihan Lokey to advise on the fairness of pending transactions than any other advisor. In 2009, Thomson Reuters ranked the firm the No. 1 M&A fairness opinion advisor for global transactions over the past 10 years. Houlihan Lokey’s recent fairness opinion experience includes opinions to the Board of Directors of Kraft Foods Inc in connection with the company’s sale of its North American frozen pizza business to Nestle S.A. and acquisition of Cadbury PLC, and an opinion to the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. in connection with a debt-for-equity exchange and equity raise.