Kroll’s Business Services Investment Banking Gains Momentum: Equity Expansion & APAC Growth

Kroll has established its Business Services Investment Banking practice as a strategic pillar for serving middle-market clients across a wide set of service-intensive industries. The practice differentiates itself through subsector focus (e.g., environmental, professional consulting, telecom infrastructure services) and high engagement from senior bankers, aiming to deliver both sell-side and buy-side advisory with customized deal structuring. [0][4]

The launch of the Equity Capital Markets Advisory practice in early 2025 marks a notable extension beyond traditional M&A advisory into the realm of public markets and transaction capital raising. Under the leadership of David Galper, this new arm enables Kroll to offer IPOs and follow-on equity transactions, positioning the firm to capture value from sponsor-backed companies seeking liquidity events. While public market volatility and macroeconomic uncertainty remain headwinds, Kroll projects growing IPO activity and seeks to build complementary advisory services around its core M&A offerings. [3]

Kroll’s recent acquisition of Madison Pacific solidifies its ambition to provide cross-border, full-stack agency, trustee, and bond administrative services, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. This strengthens its capabilities in servicing debt capital markets transactions, syndicated loans, and complex restructuring workflows across jurisdictions, responding to increasing demand for independent agency/trust services in APAC. [5][11]

Strategic implications for clients and competitors include: first, Kroll is becoming a one-stop shop for mid-market clients combining M&A, ECM and agency/trust services; second, its deep specialization and subsector segmentation may raise competitive benchmarks for deal expertise and sector insights; third, geographic expansion into Asia Pacific could give it local advantage in structuring deals involving APAC-based entities or debt issuance in those markets; and fourth, economic cycles—interest rates, IPO windows, market volatility—may pose risks to anticipated ECM growth and deal flow in certain sectors.

Open questions include: how well Kroll can scale the equity capital markets practice without compromising execution quality, particularly in IPOs; to what extent its agency & trustee services acquisition will integrate smoothly and translate into cross-selling across its deal advisory; and how regulatory, compliance or geopolitical risks in APAC will affect its ability to deliver consistent service in cross-border contexts.