SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021 Letter From Our CEO I am very pleased to introduce Houlihan Lokey’s first Sustainability Report. This report comes at a most exciting time for Houlihan Lokey, our clients, our employees, and our society. At Houlihan Lokey, our unwavering commitments to ethical behavior, community involvement, charitable giving, environmental stewardship, diversity, inclusion, and good governance have been the foundation of our success, and the success of our clients, throughout the firm’s history. While 2020 was a challenging year, Houlihan Lokey emerged more resilient than ever, thanks to the dedication and resourcefulness of our employees. Under the leadership of our board of directors, the Office of the Executives has worked with a talented group of employees and outside experts to compile this Sustainability Report. It pulls together a wide variety of information on Houlihan Lokey’s continuing efforts to address our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) responsibilities. In the pages that follow, you can read about how the Houlihan Lokey team works to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace, to use our deep industry knowledge to advance the goals of our many clients with consideration for ESG issues and social impact, to give back to the communities in which we live and work around the world, and to be good stewards of our environment. We understand that ESG can be an amorphous and wide-ranging topic, but at Houlihan Lokey we believe that our ESG-related initiatives, as varied as they may be, come down to one guiding principle: “Do the right thing, every time.” Honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness have been our core values for decades, and this dedication to ethical behavior drives Houlihan Lokey’s commitment to helping our employees, clients, and communities promote sustainability and equity. In closing, I want to emphasize that this Sustainability Report is not the culmination of our efforts at Houlihan Lokey; rather, it marks a current status report of an ongoing journey. I look forward to delivering our future Sustainability Reports in 2022 and beyond, and I fully expect that we will be reporting continued progress in our ongoing effort to meet the firm’s goals. Sincerely, Scott Beiser Chief Executive Officer FromFrom Our our CEOCEO From Our Board About HL ESG Framework Social Governance Environment HL 2 A Note From Our Board of Directors The board of directors is pleased to present Houlihan Lokey’s inaugural Sustainability Report showcasing the company’s ongoing efforts to promote the well-being of our employees, our communities, and the environment. As stewards of a global enterprise, the board recognizes its obligation to provide leadership and guidance as Houlihan Lokey works to promote sustainability and social progress on multiple fronts as well its obligation to keep our stakeholders informed regarding these endeavors and their results. As a board, we have recognized the many benefits of diversity in board composition ever since Houlihan Lokey went public in 2015. Our board currently includes three women and two African Americans among its 10 members. We are committed to maintaining a board of directors that reflects the diverse global community served by Houlihan Lokey and its clients. Throughout its history, Houlihan Lokey has always built its success upon the strong foundation of a culture of compliance, ethical behavior, and systematic enterprise risk management. The board of directors shares these core values, which also drive our dedication to effective corporate governance and our increasing efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace, as well as to promote the long- term health of our planet. Houlihan Lokey’s Mission states that we should act “with honor and integrity” and “seek to improve our local and global communities.” In addition to pursuing these goals directly, the board also ensures that these mandates are integrated into the fabric of our business strategy. Our clients are increasingly demanding Houlihan Lokey’s world class advice to assist them as they pursue sustainability and social welfare as core business strategies. As a board, we will continue to monitor the company’s efforts to meet the growing demand for these services. Finally, in addition to our effort inside the boardroom, many of our board members are personally engaged in the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Recent examples include direct participation in a discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement, and as a panelist in a discussion hosted by Houlihan Lokey women employees. We look forward to continuing and expanding our personal participation in the future. Thank you for taking the time to review our first Sustainability Report. The board of directors is excited to be leading Houlihan Lokey’s efforts to make our workplaces and communities better environments in which to work and live, and we look forward to sharing the company’s progress in future reports. June 2021 Los Angeles, California FromFrom Our our CEOCEO From Our Board About HL ESG Framework Social Governance Environment HL 3 Our Vision We will be recognized globally for providing the finest financial advice and service to our clients and the best place to work for our colleagues. Our Mission We help our clients achieve superior outcomes by providing thoughtful, caring advice while acting with honor and integrity. We are strategic in our approach to growth Our clients’ successes and the and are committed to creating lasting value for our firm’s growth and recognition are fundamentally attributable to the shareholders. We maintain an intellectually stimulating, quality of our people―their intellect, fair, and fun place to work. We seek to improve our local their drive, and their vision. and global communities through the responsible and direct actions of our firm and its people. FromFrom Our our CEOCEO From Our Board About HL ESG Framework Social Governance Environment HL 4 Houlihan Lokey at a Glance At Houlihan Lokey, we guide clients through the complex financial and strategic challenges they face during each stage of their business lifecycle. As a leading advisory-focused independent investment bank, we serve as a trusted advocate to our clients across a number of key disciplines. FY 2021 Accomplishments M&A Advisor for Six Straight Years in the U.S.* No. No. 1 138 Global Investment Banking Restructuring Advisor** U.S. Private Equity M&A Advisor*** Restructuring Transactions 360 1,540 Global M&A Fairness Opinion Advisor Over the Past 20 Years** Corporate Finance Transactions Financial and Valuation Fee Events *Based on Number1 of U.S. Transactions for 2015-2020. Source: Refinitiv. $11B **Source: Refinitiv. in Capital Raised ***Source: Pitchbook. Balanced Client Mix(1) Diversified Industry Mix(1) Diversified Product Mix(1) 1972 Financial Institutions ESTABLISHED Public 15% Private Equity Healthcare Financial and Companies and Energy and Other 10% Valuation Government 7% Institutional Advisory Owned 37% 12% 22% Corporate 23 Consumer, Finance 53% LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE Food, & Industrials Retail 21% 16% Private Non- Financial Business Sponsor Hedge Funds Technology, Media, Restructuring 1,000+ Services 36% 5% & Telecom 35% 11% Other CLIENTS SERVED ANNUALLY 12% 8% (1) Based on revenues for the LTM ended March 31, 2021. FromFrom Our our CEOCEO From Our Board About HL ESG Framework Social Governance Environment HL 5 Evolving identification of ESG responsibilities most applicable to our Our Approach to ESG business through aggregation of findings from ESG diagnostics and stakeholder assessments: We believe that thoughtful and consistent attention to our ESG • Talent Recruitment, Development and Retention responsibilities are integral to our operations, our long-term success, and our stakeholder relationships (our employees, • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion clients, stockholders, regulators, and communities). • Employee Engagement Our process in identifying, assessing, and managing ESG • commitments includes: Integration of ESG Within our Client Services • Professional Integrity and Business Ethics • Formation of an ESG Working Group comprising members of • Enterprise Risk Management various internal departments and external advisors overseen by the Office of the Executives and board of directors; • Cybersecurity Oversight • Corporate Governance • Ongoing and consistent reviews of the firm’s policies and • practices, and proposing new and additional practices as Environmental Initiatives appropriate; and • Continuous focus on ESG topics most relevant to our business and stakeholders based on leading ESG frameworks, rating agencies, stockholder analyses, best practices disclosures, and internal feedback, with an emphasis on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). FromFrom Our our CEOCEO From Our Board About HL ESG Framework Social Governance Environment HL 6 Alignment With the United Nations SDGs As we evaluate the ESG issues most relevant to us, the impact of our actions and practices on our broader stakeholder base is central to our process. From this perspective, Houlihan Lokey has aligned our internal sustainability efforts with the UN SDGs. The UN SDGs were adopted in 2015 with the aim of building broad scale support to address the toughest challenges of society, including severe poverty, gender, racial and economic inequality, and environmental devastation. As a responsible firm, we believe that aligning our contributions with the UN SDGs emphasizes our commitments