(Reuters) - Private equity firm GTCR has agreed to pay $2.7 billion to buy AssetMark Financial, in a deal that would take the wealth management platform private more than five years after its initial public offering.
The acquisition will help expand GTCR's footprint in the financial services industry. Founded in 1980, the firm has made big gains in healthcare, financial and technology markets.
It manages $40 billion of equity, and its portfolio includes Worldpay, which payment services provider Fidelity National Information Services sold in a blockbuster deal last year.
AssetMark's shareholders will get $35.25 per share in cash, it said on Thursday, and the deal will be financed with a credit facility and capital from funds affiliated with GTCR.
AssetMark's shares fell 2% before the bell.
GTCR's offer price represents a 1% premium to the stock's last close, but is more than 30% higher than where it was trading at before media reports on a potential stake sale of the business.
Concord, California-based AssetMark provides technology for financial advisers to manage client investment portfolios and report and analyze their performance.
Morgan Stanley was the financial adviser to AssetMark for the deal. UBS Investment Bank and Barclays served as co-lead financial advisers for GTCR and are providing debt for the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter this year.
Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru
Editing by Eileen Soreng and Shounak Dasgupta
