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Investment bank Houlihan Lokey has bolstered its mortgage services practice by hiring industry veteran John Guzzo, amid expectations of increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity over the next several years.
“This was both a short- and long-term opportunity that was hard to pass up, given where the market is today in the mortgage space and the amount of M&A volume we’re going to see over the next zero to five years,” Guzzo said in an interview. “It’s going to be a very active time in the markets.”
Guzzo joins as a managing director under the leadership of Jeffrey Levine, global co-head of Houlihan Lokey’s financial services group, which advises on M&A, capital-raising, restructuring, and financial and valuation services. In 2024, the group was the top M&A advisor for all global financial services transactions by LSEG, excluding accounting firms and brokers.
The team, which covers the entire housing, mortgage and property ecosystem, includes eight managing directors, Levine said.
“We do more deals in the residential mortgage ecosystem — selling originators and servicers — than any other bank,” Levine said. “We’re taking the counterintuitive approach: we’re going to have more seasoned bankers in the space, not fewer.”
With more than 25 years of M&A and financial services experience, Guzzo joins Houlihan Lokey from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), a Stifel company, where he led coverage in mortgage technology, proptech, fintech and financial services. Prior to that, he founded Berkery, Noyes & Co.’s mortgage technology and proptech group.
Over the years, Guzzo has worked across segments including appraisal management companies, title agencies, credit solutions, quality control providers, third-party review firms and niche lending platforms, among others.
Guzzo’s client base is heavily weighted toward financial sponsors such as private equity firms, many of which have exceeded the typical three-year investment window after entering the mortgage market in 2019–2021. He expects to see more sales from these firms, either to strategics or to larger private equity groups.
“Real estate and mortgage are massive industries, yet they remain highly fragmented,” Guzzo said. “When consolidation begins, innovation follows, and that’s when you see new companies enter the space.”
M&A trends
Executives anticipate both headline-grabbing transactions — such as Rocket Companies’ agreements to acquire Redfin and Mr. Cooper — as well as a wave of mid-market deals. They also see more strategic-to-strategic combinations, even for companies backed by private equity, as firms seek scale to compete.
Most synergies in these deals are expected on the revenue side, through expanded customer bases or broader product offerings, though some cost reductions are also part of the equation.
According to Guzzo, current transactions are roughly split between asset and stock deals. Strong, EBITDA-driven businesses may still command high single-digit or even double-digit EBITDA multiples. Meanwhile, the role of artificial intelligence is growing, driving cost savings and revenue growth.
In the proptech sector, Houlihan Lokey noted in a recent report that elevated interest rates and market volatility in the first half of 2025, driven by geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainty. Still, the market has remained resilient, with $2.3 billion in growth equity and debt financing raised and 55 M&A transactions completed, compared with 47 during the same period in 2024.
Houlihan Lokey’s recent transactions include Lower’s acquisition of real estate portal Movoto and FTV Capital’s equity investment in ButterflyMX, a cloud-based property platform for multifamily and commercial properties.
