Envestnet Nears Deal to Sell to Bain Capital: Report
The deal values Envestnet at about $3.5 billion, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Envestnet is near a deal with private equity firm Bain Capital on a sale of the company, according to Reuters.
The deal involves a valuation of the turnkey asset manager at roughly $3.5 billion, or about $63 a share, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Its shares traded up about 0.3% Monday to close at $64.25. The firm’s stock price is up nearly 27.5% this year but has fallen 13% over the past five years.
“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation in the market,” Envestnet told ThinkAdvisor via email late Monday.
In May, Bloomberg reported that private equity firms Advent International and GTCR were reviewing a possible acquisition of Envestnet. That followed a report in April that Envestnet was working with Morgan Stanley to find potential suitors, including Bain — which owns a 29% stake of Carson Group and 20% of CI Financial.
Envestnet is currently led by interim CEO James L. Fox, who heads the board. Fox took the helm after former CEO Bill Crager stepped down on April 1. Crager now serves as a senior advisor to the firm.
See: Crager Opens Up on Envestnet’s Challenges
Crager, who co-founded the firm with Jud Bergman in 1999, was formerly head of Envestnet Wealth Solutions. He became interim CEO and then the firm’s ongoing CEO in March 2020, following the death of Bergman and his wife, Mary Miller-Bergman, in a car crash in October 2019.
“The company needs to execute on the strategy that’s been laid down [using] the capabilities it has,” Crager said in April, when asked about the its current challenges. “We have the right team in place. The infrastructure is, kind of, set. It’s very much an execution challenge vs. creating and building the next frontier.”
Envestnet’s wealth management platform had over $6 trillion in assets and was used by more than 109,000 advisors as of March 31, 2024.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story misstated the estimated valuation of Envestnet in the possible deal. It is $3.5 billion.
(Credit: Envestnet)