Greenhill & Co. has been content to exist as something of a pure play on the boutique deal advisory industry. While the likes of Evercore and Lazard added money management business units, Greenhill stuck to its knitting.

Some might argue that it has not reaped the benefits of that decision as it lost market share and saw its stock fell about 40 percent this year. In fact, the stock this week hit a new 52-week low. Greenhill ranks 17th among advisers on deals announced this year, sliding from 13th in 2007, while Lazard ranks ninth and Evercore ranks 12th. Greenhill staffed up aggressively during the financial crisis, positioning itself to take advantage of a change in the deal cycle.

Bloomberg notes that Greenhill's personnel expenses surged to 75 percent of revenue in this year's first quarter, contributing to the first quarterly loss in two and a half years. The hiring has been impressive, as the number of managing directors has increased 63 percent since 2007.

As the deal pace continues to accelerate, analysts will be closely watching to see if the massive investment in bankers pays off. So far, the jury is out. One analyst told Bloomberg: "They have yet to see the full payoff from those people. They're just not hitting many of the deals that are there." If the deals do not materialize, we may see an exodus of top bankers. Financial services banker Alejandro Przygoda, who advised on several major deals, has already been lured away by Credit Suisse.

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