It started as a distressed-debt shop picking through the wreckage of the 1990 junk-bond collapse. Thirty-five years later Apollo runs close to a trillion dollars and is trying to sell private credit to your 401(k).
It ranks No. 1 in global M&A by deal count and No. 1 in restructuring. One of those businesses thrives in good times, the other in bad. Houlihan Lokey owns both.
9fin is a London-based, AI-native intelligence platform for the global debt markets. Founded in 2016 by former banker Steven Hunter and former engineer Huss El-Sheikh, it uses machine learning to extract structured data from dense financial documents and pairs that data with news, analytics, and AI-powered workflows. Its platform covers leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed debt, CLOs, private credit, and asset-based finance, and is used by investment banks, asset managers, hedge funds, law firms, and advisors. In March 2026 the company raised a $170M Series C at a $1.3 billion valuation.