The Brentwood-based investment banking and mergers and acquisitions consulting firm Palm Tree LLC has shown no signs of slowing down, despite a decrease in transaction volume amid adverse market conditions.

Last month the firm added two former Houlihan Lokey Financial Advisors Inc. directors to its executive staff. In addition, the firm said it would be opening an office in Dallas to serve clients in the southeastern region, bringing Palm Tree’s office count to four across the country.

Tracy Albert and David Barnes join as vice chairman of investment banking and managing director and head of mergers and acquisitions, respectively. Both grew their careers within the Los Angeles finance scene, and established Houlihans’ large middle-market stake in Los Angeles 30 years ago. According to Barnes, because the finance sector here is relatively small and Albert lives in the same community as Palm Tree’s chief executive Pardis Nasseri, the courtship had been years in the making.

“Tracy and I noticed something very similar to us,” Barnes said. “We noticed, like at Houlihan Lokey, a vibrant cash-flowing practice in the consulting side of Palm Tree, analogous to the valuation group at Houlihan.”

Palm Tree is unique in the M&A landscape, with a two-pronged business model allowing the firm to expand while the number of deals closing remains relatively flat. By building out a consulting arm primarily serving the private equity space, the firm positions itself as a feeder into investment banking, and vice versa.

Essentially, companies can approach Palm Tree for financial consulting before going into the market, or Palm Tree’s investment banking arm can find promising companies and hand them to the consulting side to “clean up” for an ultimate transaction.

“Integrating now the investment banking side in with this advisory side is a differentiated model,” Albert said. “Oftentimes, the hard part for most investment banking firms, if they’re purely investment banking firms, is the capitalization.”

Bringing on veterans with expansive networks in the space, Palm Tree continues it maturation this year. In June the company appointed strategic advisor Derek Alderton to vice chair and in January acquired a middle-market capital advisory firm.