????人們經(jīng)常把獨(dú)立咨詢公司稱為小型企業(yè)。但就最近的情況而言，它們可一點(diǎn)兒也不“小”。金融數(shù)據(jù)供應(yīng)商Dealogic提供的信息顯示，今年初以來，小型并購咨詢公司的收入占美國咨詢市場(chǎng)、或者說投資銀行咨詢費(fèi)的近五分之一，高于2006年的9%和2011年的13%。

????更引人注目的是，以上數(shù)據(jù)還不包括幾筆大型并購交易。這些交易已經(jīng)披露（但尚未完成），而且獨(dú)立咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)在其中發(fā)揮了重要作用。比如，電信運(yùn)營商威瑞森（Verizon）對(duì)移動(dòng)通信公司Verizon Wireless的全面收購就由保羅?陶布曼和艾倫?施瓦茨擔(dān)任顧問；多元化集團(tuán)美國科氏工業(yè)集團(tuán)（Koch Industries）最近斥資70億美元收購電子連接器制造商莫仕（Molex）時(shí)聘請(qǐng)了拜倫?特羅特為顧問；廣告公司宏盟（Omnicom）和陽獅（Publicis）最近決定合并，一位頂尖投行人士將此事稱為廣告行業(yè)的“分水嶺”，這兩家公司也分別聘請(qǐng)了獨(dú)立機(jī)構(gòu)Moelis & Company和Rothschild Group為它們提供咨詢服務(wù)。

????Moelis & Company首席執(zhí)行官肯?莫里斯曾在瑞士銀行（UBS）投行部門工作，他說：“反常的并不是小型咨詢公司本身，反常的是人們相信聘請(qǐng)小型咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)能更有效地開展工作。咨詢公司、投資銀行和商業(yè)銀行分開發(fā)展是有原因的。只是不久之前才出現(xiàn)了這三者的結(jié)合體。”

????莫里斯所說的是上世紀(jì)90年代末的情況。當(dāng)時(shí)，許多投行正迅速發(fā)展成為大型金融機(jī)構(gòu)（比如Salomon Brothers、Dillon Read、Alex. Brown & Sons和S.G. Warburg等）。從那以后，金融人才不斷地緩慢流向Moelis & Company這樣的公司。現(xiàn)在，許多獨(dú)立咨詢公司的發(fā)展水平已經(jīng)接近當(dāng)時(shí)的那些投行，隨后就被更大的金融企業(yè)吞并。其中，Perella Weinberg Partners擁有超過415名投行人士。2007年開業(yè)的Moelis & Company已經(jīng)有了600人的投行團(tuán)隊(duì)。他們待遇更好，而且摩擦較少。

????莫里斯說：“造成這種局面的部分原因是監(jiān)管，但也因?yàn)槠髽I(yè)內(nèi)部委員會(huì)有數(shù)量眾多的繁瑣程序。如果我聘用同一個(gè)人，他在97.8%的工作時(shí)間里都屬于外部人員。我們既沒有派生出新的方法，也沒有完善的監(jiān)管框架。”

????還有些人認(rèn)為，并購活動(dòng)牽涉到更多的司法程序，審查也更為嚴(yán)格。從著名投資人伊坎反對(duì)戴爾（Dell）私有化的過程中就能看出，這樣的交易會(huì)變得多么復(fù)雜。在需要第二名顧問的情況下，獨(dú)立咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)或許毛遂自薦了。

????小型咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)獲得成功的另一個(gè)原因可能是臃腫的大型投行內(nèi)部存在利益沖突。批評(píng)人士指出，商業(yè)機(jī)密在這些投行內(nèi)部四處流傳，它們的客戶有時(shí)也會(huì)獲悉一二，這樣做的目的就是在一項(xiàng)并購交易中形成不同的陣營。

????一位不愿公開姓名的前頂尖投行人士說：“如果早上有位客戶給你打電話說他們想轉(zhuǎn)讓自己的公司，那么到了下午，40封與之相關(guān)的語音郵件就會(huì)傳到世界各地。”

????一位特拉華州法官曾批評(píng)巴克萊銀行（Barclays）在2011年私募基金收購食品加工企業(yè)Del Monte的過程中存在利益沖突問題。天然氣公司El Paso和Kinder Morgan合并時(shí)聘請(qǐng)了高盛（Goldman Sachs）擔(dān)任顧問。去年，高盛和EI Paso被人告上法庭。特拉華州衡平法院大法官里奧?斯特萊恩評(píng)論此案時(shí)說：“雖然人們知道高盛存在利益沖突，但并沒有采取足夠的措施來限制高盛在這項(xiàng)交易中發(fā)揮作用。本案的記錄讓我相信，原告很有可能成功地證明不忠實(shí)的行為給這次合并帶來了不利影響。”高盛沒有以顧問的身份從Kinder Morgan那里得到酬勞，但它持有后者19%的股份，還擁有兩個(gè)董事席位。高盛和Kinder Morgan都花錢了結(jié)了此案，但不承認(rèn)自己有不當(dāng)行為。

????一年來，巴克萊銀行的市場(chǎng)份額只流失了一小部分。高盛則仍保持著龍頭地位，此案過后還進(jìn)一步擴(kuò)大了市場(chǎng)份額。

????Independent advisory firms are often called boutiques. But lately there has been nothing small about them. So far this year, M&A shops have scooped up nearly a fifth of U.S. advisory revenues, or fees bankers take when they advise deals, up from 13% in 2011 and 9% in 2006, according to Dealogic.

????Even more impressive is the fact that these figures don't include several large announced (but not yet closed) deals where independent advisors played a prominent role, including Paul Taubman and Alan Schwartz's advisory roles for Verizon (VZ) in its bid to buy all of Verizon Wireless, and Byron Trott's role on Koch Industries recent $7 billion bid for Molex (MOLX). Omnicom (OMC) and Publicis each had sole independent advisors, Moelis and Rothschild, respectively, on their recent merger in what one bulge bracket banker calls a "watershed moment" for the industry.

????"The aberration isn't the boutique. The aberration is the belief that it could all be conducted more effectively under one roof." says Ken Moelis, former UBS banker and CEO of Moelis & Company. "The world developed with advisory and investment banks and commercial banks separate for a reason. It was only a short time ago that everything was put together."

????Moelis is talking about the late 1990s, when many investment banks were rapidly rolled up into large banks (think Salomon Brothers, Dillon Read, Alex. Brown & Sons, or S.G. Warburg, to name a few). Since then, there's been a slow brain drain back to the likes of Moelis. Now, many of the independent shops have grown to resemble the legacy investment banks before they were gobbled up by bigger firms. Perella Weinberg has over 415 bankers. Moelis, which opened its doors in 2007, has grown to 600 employees. They pay better, and bankers have less hassle.

????"Some of that is regulatory but also numerous bureaucratic internal committee processes," Moelis says. "If I hire that same person, 97.8% of their time will be external. We don't have derivatives or a complex regulatory framework."

????Some people also say deals are becoming more litigated and scrutinized. Icahn's agitation of the Dell (DELL) takeover shows how complicated transactions can be. Independent advisors may be nudging themselves onto deals where a second advisor is needed.

????But another reason for boutiques' success may be that larger, unwieldy banks are conflicted. Critics say secrets are traded around the bank, and sometimes to other clients, in order to be on several sides of a deal.

????"You get a call from a client in the morning that they want to sell themselves, and by the afternoon, 40 voicemails have shipped around the world," says an ex-bulge bracket banker who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

????A Delaware judge criticized Barclays (BCS) for its conflicted role on Del Monte's 2011 buyout. Goldman Sachs's (GS) role on advising El Paso on its merger with Kinder Morgan and El Paso played out in court last year. Delaware chancellor Leo Strine said about the deal, "Although Goldman's conflict was known, inadequate efforts to cabin its role were made." He continued: "The record thus persuades me that the plaintiffs have a reasonable likelihood of success in proving that the Merger was tainted by disloyalty." Goldman wasn't paid as an investment bank advisor for Kinder Morgan, but owned 19% of the shares and had two board seats. Both Goldman and Kinder Morgan made financial concessions to settle the case, but did not admit to wrongdoing.

????Yet Barclays has lost only a small amount of market share over the past year. Goldman continues to top the charts and has gained market share since that judgment.