BMO to acquire Greene Holcomb & Fisher

If someone already posted a thread on this, my apologies, but I did not see one via a search.

http://www.ghf.net/news/greene-holcomb-fisher-to-…

I'm somewhat surprised by this move for a variety of reasons, but I suppose acquiring an M&A business is easier than building one from the ground up. However, how many times have IB acquisitions worked out in the long run? Deloitte and McColl is probably the best one that comes to mind thus far.

In most cases, the culture clash is an immediate problem. In others, the focus and strategy conflicts between the buyer and seller.

In the case of GH&F, both issues are present. GH&F is a boutique MM group that has been increasingly winning larger mandates over the past five years (i.e. Abra, Mills Fleet Farm deal). However, its primary competitive advantages were that is offered vertical expertise and possessed a strong reputation in the middle market, specializing in transaction values between $50 and $250 million.

BMO is undoubtedly going to push this business upstream, as it is currently doing with its commercial/corporate lending. When Lazard did this after acquiring Goldsmith Agio to form Lazard MM, virtually every legacy banker departed.

While there is certainly a lock-up period for some of the top people, a mass exodus is likely to occur from the MD-VP level and possibly even lower. So that begs the question, how successful are these transactions when the human capital that is being acquired isn't going to stick around for more than a couple of years (at most)?