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Lincoln International helps private equity firms sell companies they own to corporate or private equity buyers. It also helps privately owned companies and investment funds raise capital and arrange financing. M&A advice brings in most of its revenue. Clients pay advisory fees, with most investment banking advisory revenue coming from success fees payable when a transaction closes. If a deal falls through, Lincoln may receive only an initial retainer despite the work already done.
A smaller business earns recurring fees by valuing investments that do not trade readily, helping private equity and private credit managers prepare financial and tax reports. Lincoln also provides opinions on whether transaction terms are financially fair and whether companies can meet their obligations after a transaction.
Private equity firms and their portfolio companies supply most investment banking advisory revenue, although no single client dominates revenue overall. Earnings therefore depend heavily on these clients pursuing and completing deals, and on the size of those deals. Its regulated broker-dealers must maintain minimum net capital, and material business expansions may require regulatory approval.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Houlihan Lokey competes with Lincoln for fees from clients buying and selling midsize companies, raising capital, restructuring debt and seeking valuations or transaction opinions. Its Corporate Finance deal activity and demand for valuation and restructuring advice are the closest areas to watch alongside Lincoln.
Piper Sandler competes with Lincoln for midsize companies and investment firms paying for help buying or selling businesses, raising debt, restructuring and securing private capital. Watch its work for corporate and sponsor clients rather than its municipal financing business to gauge the activity Lincoln also serves.
Moelis and Lincoln compete for companies and investment firms paying for advice on business sales, financing, restructuring and private capital, rather than lending or securities trading. Moelis’s work for financial sponsors and midsize private companies offers a closer comparison with Lincoln than its work for governments or large public multinationals.
PJT Partners competes with Lincoln for investment firms paying for help buying and selling companies, restructuring debt, raising private funds and arranging ways to cash out investments. Watch PJT Park Hill’s fundraising and liquidity work for fund managers and investors for a comparison with Lincoln’s Private Funds Advisory practice.
Evercore and Lincoln compete for fees from clients seeking help buying or selling businesses; both are independent investment banks, but Evercore is more oriented toward large transactions.
Lazard competes with Lincoln for clients paying for advice on business transactions, but its substantial asset-management business makes total revenue a less direct comparison. Watch Financial Advisory engagements: Lazard wins and negotiates each separately rather than relying on long-term revenue contracts.
Jefferies competes with Lincoln for clients paying for transaction advice and help raising capital, but also earns revenue from trading and investments. Its financial advisory and underwriting work is more relevant to Lincoln than returns from its own investment holdings.
Stifel competes with Lincoln for clients paying for investment-banking services, but wealth management and trading also drive its earnings. Watch investment banking within its Institutional Group rather than treating that whole segment, which also includes research and trading, as a match for Lincoln.
Raymond James competes with Lincoln for fees from clients buying or selling businesses, but brokerage, wealth management and banking make it a less direct advisory comparison. Its M&A advisory activity is the part to watch alongside Lincoln, rather than its broader retail and institutional investment services.
Carlyle’s buying and selling of private-equity holdings tracks the activity Lincoln earns fees advising on, without implying Carlyle is a Lincoln client: Carlyle invests fund capital, while Lincoln helps private-equity firms finance and sell portfolio companies. Watch Carlyle’s private-equity exits, since private-equity firms and their portfolio companies supplied approximately 62% of Lincoln’s 2025 Investment Banking Advisory revenue.
Houlihan Lokey, Inc. earningsHLI
Houlihan Lokey’s report shows whether clients are active in the mid-sized transactions and valuation work that also bring Lincoln International advisory mandates—and whether a close competitor is winning work there.
Watch Houlihan Lokey’s Corporate Finance deal activity alongside Lincoln International’s completed Investment Banking Advisory transactions. Stronger activity would suggest more clients are pursuing similar deals, while also showing that a competitor is active for those mandates; weaker activity would point to a cooler shared market, helping readers distinguish a larger pool of work from tougher competition for a shrinking one.
Fed Interest Rate Decision
The Fed’s rate decision signals the direction of borrowing costs; higher rates can raise Lincoln International’s interest expense on floating-rate debt and slow client transactions that generate success fees.
Expected4.0%Last release4.0%
If it comes in above expectations
Higher rates could increase interest paid on Lincoln International’s floating-rate term and delayed-draw debt, leaving less cash for operations; if clients also delay or cancel deals, fewer transactions may close and success-fee revenue may fall.
If it comes in below expectations
Lower rates could reduce interest paid on Lincoln International’s floating-rate debt, preserving cash; if clients proceed with more transactions, more deals may close and generate success fees.
PJT Partners Inc. earningsPJT
PJT Partners’ report offers a read on fundraising and liquidity advice sought by fund managers and investors, work that connects with Lincoln International’s Private Funds Advisory business.
Watch PJT Partners’ Park Hill fundraising and liquidity activity as a signal of whether fund managers and investors are seeking this kind of advice. More activity would point to stronger demand in a market that overlaps with Lincoln’s Private Funds Advisory work; less would suggest softer demand for that service, not necessarily for Lincoln’s separate transaction-advisory businesses.
The Carlyle Group Inc. earningsCG
Carlyle’s private-equity exits show how actively investors are selling portfolio companies, a source of potential deal activity in a client segment that generated about 62% of Lincoln International’s 2025 Investment Banking Advisory revenue.
Read Carlyle’s private-equity exits as a signal of whether investors are selling portfolio companies: more exits could mean more potential advisory transactions, while fewer would point to less activity in this important market for Lincoln. Carlyle is an investor, not evidence of a Lincoln client relationship; the conclusion is whether the broader exit environment is supporting potential deal flow.
Lincoln International, Inc. earningsThis company
Lincoln International generally recognizes advisory fees when deals close, and this report will show whether completed activity is translating into profit while valuation work provides a steadier revenue base.
Read completed Investment Banking Advisory transactions alongside that segment’s revenue and operating income, then check the compensation and non-compensation ratios, which show how much revenue those costs consume. More deals and revenue with operating income keeping pace and expense ratios contained would show advisory fees reaching profit; rising revenue but weaker operating income and higher ratios would show costs eating into the gains. Check whether Valuations and Opinions revenue holds up as well, to judge both the profit conversion of advisory work and the steadiness of valuation revenue.
