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Clearlake Capital to Acquire MV Credit from Natixis Investment Managers

PRNewswire — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:30:09 +0000

Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., an investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit and other related strategies, announced that it has agreed to acquire MV Credit, a pan-European private credit specialist, from Natixis Investment Managers (“Natixis IM”). The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in London, MV Credit is an independently managed European private credit specialist. With $5.1 billion in assets under management (AUM), MV Credit provides tailored fund solutions to investors across senior direct lending, subordinated direct lending, hybrid, and collateralized loan obligation (CLO) strategies. MV Credit has deployed more than $11 billion since its inception, leading over 500 bespoke transactions of up to $500 million with sponsors such as EQT, Nordic Capital, Cinven and Bain Capital. MV Credit is differentiated by its experienced senior management team, whose members each have more than two decades of investment experience across multiple credit cycles.

Upon closing, Clearlake’s credit business will have over $28 billion AUM, as well as firmwide AUM of over $90 billion. Upon the close of the acquisition, Clearlake’s team will consist of more than 230 professionals with offices in Santa Monica, Dallas, Dublin, London, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Paris and Luxembourg.

“Credit has been in Clearlake’s DNA since our inception and is core to our firm strategy. MV Credit’s exceptional track record and deep expertise in private credit align perfectly with our existing credit business and strengthen our continuing presence in Europe,” said José E. Feliciano, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Clearlake. “Clearlake has deployed over $40 billion in debt and preferred equity investments since 2006, and with MV Credit’s expertise we will broaden our global direct lending capabilities to better serve sponsors and other clients while expanding product offerings for our investors.”

“With this acquisition, Clearlake’s credit business will attain significant scale, with credit AUM growing from ~$6 billion in 2020 to over $28 billion today,” said Behdad Eghbali, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Clearlake. “We have been very deliberate in how we’ve built our credit business, and the addition of MV Credit, with highly complementary direct lending capabilities, provides us with new opportunities for strategic growth.”

“Clearlake and MV Credit share a similar credit investment philosophy and culture, and we believe the combination will be a winning proposition for the market,” said Frédéric Nadal, Chief Executive Officer of MV Credit. “The demand for private credit keeps growing, and the partnership with Clearlake allows us to further address client needs around the world. Our firms share a culture of teamwork, integrity and commitment to excellence. We look forward to being part of the Clearlake family.”

Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Milbank LLP are serving as legal advisors to Clearlake, while Fenchurch Advisory is acting as financial advisor and Dentons is acting as legal advisor to Natixis IM on the transaction. DLA Piper LLP is serving as legal advisor to the MV Credit Partners.

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BlackRock to Acquire Preqin

BusinessWire — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 15:50:12 +0000

BlackRock, Inc. has agreed to acquire Preqin, a leading independent provider of private markets data for £2.55 billion or approximately $3.2 billion in cash. Bringing together Preqin’s data and research tools with Aladdin’s complementary workflow capabilities in a unified platform will create a preeminent private markets technology and data provider. The acquisition adds a highly complementary data business to BlackRock’s investment technology, marking a strategic expansion into the fast-growing private markets data segment.

Private markets are the fastest growing segment of asset management, with alternative assets expected to reach nearly $40 trillion by the end of the decade. As institutional and wealth investors increase allocations to alternatives, BlackRock has built a leading private markets franchise to meet this client demand. There is an even greater need for standardized data, benchmarks, and analytics that enable investors to better incorporate private asset classes into portfolios and provide fund managers with better data and tools to deliver outcomes for clients. Private markets data is estimated to be an $8 billion total addressable market and growing 12% per year, reaching $18 billion by 2030.

Preqin empowers investors to make better decisions by providing data and insights that increase transparency and access across the global alternatives market. With a 20-year history, Preqin is a leading independent data solutions provider in private markets with global coverage of 190,000 funds, 60,000 fund managers and 30,000 private markets investors, reaching more than 200,000 users, including asset managers, insurers, pensions, wealth managers, banks, and other service providers. In 2024, Preqin is expected to generate ~$240 million of highly recurring revenue and has grown approximately 20% per year in the last three years.

Through the Aladdin platform, BlackRock provides technology solutions to over 1,000 clients. The combination of Preqin with eFront, Aladdin’s private markets solution, brings together the data, research, and investment process for fund managers and investors across fundraising, deal sourcing, portfolio management, accounting, and performance. Preqin will also continue to be offered as a standalone solution.

“BlackRock’s vision has always been to bring together investments, technology, and data to offer solutions that meet our clients’ needs across their whole portfolio. As clients increasingly evolve their focus from choosing products to constructing portfolios, this shift requires technology, data, and analytics that create a ‘common language’ for investing across both public and private markets. We see data powering the industry across technology, capital formation, investing, and risk management,” said Rob Goldstein, BlackRock Chief Operating Officer. “Every acquisition has been an opportunity to strengthen our capabilities for clients—and in fact, we have been a client of Preqin for many years, and we look forward to welcoming the talented Preqin team to BlackRock.”

“Together with Preqin, we can make private markets investing easier and more accessible while building a better-connected platform for investors and fund managers. This presents a substantial opportunity for Aladdin to bridge the transparency gap between public and private markets through data and analytics,” said Sudhir Nair, Global Head of Aladdin.

“BlackRock is known for excellence in both investment management and financial technology, and together we can accelerate our efforts to deliver better private markets data and analytics to all of our clients at scale.” said Mark O’Hare, Founder of Preqin. “I look forward to joining BlackRock and continuing to play a role in the continued growth and success of Preqin and our customers.” Preqin founder Mark O’Hare will join BlackRock as a Vice Chair after the close of the transaction.

“Private markets continue to evolve and so is Preqin. I am incredibly excited about the opportunities this next phase of growth, together with BlackRock, promises our customers and our employees,” said Christoph Knaack, CEO of Preqin.

Terms of the Transaction

Under the terms of the transaction, BlackRock will acquire 100% of the business and assets of Preqin for total consideration of £2.55 billion or approximately $3.2 billion in cash.

The transaction is expected to close before year-end 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Barclays served as lead financial advisor to BlackRock, with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom acting as legal counsel. Goldman Sachs International served as the sole financial advisor, and Macfarlanes acted as legal counsel, to Preqin.

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Broadridge and Kyndryl to partner in Canadian Wealth Management

PRNewswire — Tue, 14 May 2024 15:30:13 +0000

Global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., announced that it will acquire Kyndryl’s Securities Industry Services (SIS) wealth and capital markets technology platform. SIS solutions include clearing and settlement, account record keeping, tax and regulatory reporting, and integrated order management activities for Canadian financial services firms. Kyndryl intends to partner with Broadridge Canada by providing managed services and capabilities to SIS.

“The partnership with Kyndryl and the acquisition of the SIS business further underscore Broadridge’s long-standing commitment to being a leading technology provider to Canadian financial services firms,” said Karin Kirkwood, President of Broadridge Canada. “The combination of the SIS technology business and Kyndryl managed services with our industry-leading Broadridge Wealth Platform will further accelerate our ability to bring innovation to Canada and meet the increasingly complex needs of Canadian firms.”

“Broadridge has been a long-standing partner and this latest collaboration is a win-win for our Canadian clients,” said Farhaz Thobani, President of Kyndryl Canada. “Broadridge shares our commitment to drive technology innovation at scale, making them the right acquirer for the SIS business and bringing additional innovation to our clients.”

The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Broadridge’s financial results and is expected to close in the coming months subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. RBC Capital Markets acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Broadridge on this transaction.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and other written or oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Broadridge may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical in nature, and which may be identified by the use of words such as “expects,” “assumes,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “we believe,” “could be,” “on track,” and other words of similar meaning, are forward-looking statements.

These statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. These risks and uncertainties include those risk factors described and discussed in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023 (the “2023 Annual Report”), as they may be updated in any future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors discussed in the 2023 Annual Report.

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FinTech Interview with Ryan Van Hatten, Chief Financial Officer at Prophix

FTB News Desk — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 13:30:12 +0000

Discover Prophix’s commitment to excellence as they prioritise the dynamic needs of CFOs and finance teams. Explore the interview to learn more.

Ryan Van Hatten Chief Financial Officer at Prophix

Ryan, could you briefly introduce yourself and your role as the Chief Financial Officer at Prophix?
As Chief Financial Officer of Prophix, I am the strategic financial advisor to the leadership team and across the company by providing guidance, solving problems, and creating positive change for sustainable growth. I first joined Prophix as a senior consultant in 2005, and then moved onto other senior-level positions related to services, operations, and finance before taking the role of Chief Financial Officer in 2016.

The CFO’s role has evolved significantly over the last few years, extending beyond the finance department to the linchpin across diverse business units and functions continuously looking for ways to maximize value creation for both short-term results and long-term impact. I perceive my role at Prophix in a similar vein; taking a thoughtful approach to the business, maintaining accountability for both myself and my team, and consistently fostering communication and collaboration with various departments and teams throughout the organization have been pivotal in contributing to the company’s rapid growth.

Background

Can you briefly share Prophix’s journey from bootstrapped to financially backed and your role in fuelling the next stage of growth?
Prophix is a leading performance management platform that helps finance teams at mid-market organizations improve profitability and minimize risk by automating budgeting, planning and reporting processes for better decision-making. By automating these essential yet time-consuming processes through a cloud-based technology platform, finance teams are relieved of the manual tasks of working in spreadsheets and can redirect their efforts toward more strategic and value-added activities, such as data analysis, interpretation of financial insights, and decision-making. This modern approach to FP&A enhances overall productivity and enables finance teams to contribute more effectively to the strategic goals of the organization.

Prophix has always been an industry leader and disruptor, on a mission to provide its global client base with the latest innovative technology for transforming the Office of Finance. Starting as an on-premise software provider 35 years ago, Prophix recognized the value of shifting its business to a cloud financial management platform as the next step in enabling its customers to take advantage of newer data-centric functions and technologies for competitive advantage. Since then, Prophix has seen significant growth in cloud customers worldwide as finance leaders recognize the importance of being able to take advantage of advanced data analytics and scenario planning capabilities, integrated with AI and machine learning, to manage their business in today’s current landscape of constant change and uncertainties. By leveraging Prophix’s financial performance platform, finance leaders have the agility and speed they need for strategic decision making to drive their business forward.

After an extremely impressive growth trajectory while completely bootstrapped, in January 2021 Prophix announced an investment from Hg, a leading global software investor, to help accelerate and scale the company’s future growth and development of its product capabilities. This investment enabled Prophix to acquire Sigma Conso, a Belgian-based FP&A software leader with strong capabilities in financial close management, further augmenting Prophix’s capabilities. Most noteworthy, in November 2022 Prophix reached $100M in annual recurring revenues, a significant milestone in the company’s history.

With many awards to its name, and consecutively receiving one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry, Prophix has a strong foothold in mid-market FP&A. Our goal from the very beginning has been to help finance professionals improve the way they do their jobs to achieve greater business success, and as a result, Prophix has become a much-needed and desired partner for businesses across the globe. Throughout our history, Prophix has made the right investments, especially with technology capabilities and features, to support our customers while achieving our aggressive growth goals. This approach is what will continue to fuel the company’s growth moving forward.

Business objectives

What is Prophix’s primary business objective in addressing the growing needs of CFOs and finance teams?

Finance departments are central to an organization’s strategic planning and decision-making process. This was especially evident during the pandemic as CFOs were forced to make quick, reactive decisions to steer their companies through economic uncertainties, many of which persist today. Thankfully, those organizations that leaned on financial planning and analysis tools, like Prophix, were able to successfully manage their business remotely by leveraging scenario planning based on real-time data across all departments and functions, giving them the kind of ‘if/then’ agility they needed to make instant decisions to keep their business on track.

While the pandemic is behind us, businesses continue to grapple with market volatility, with elevated interest rates and inflation. This underscores the importance for finance executives to have the capability to plan for unforeseen circumstances, collaborate on budgets, and seamlessly consolidate data. This is essential for guiding businesses effectively in today’s dynamic environment, demanding both speed and flexibility.

That’s what we’re all about at Prophix: helping finance professionals be the true leaders they want to be, making strategic decisions that can impact both the short term value and long-term success of the business. Prophix’s financial performance platform’s ease of use and flexibility for finance teams, combined with a robust customer success program, provides finance professionals with automated planning, forecasting and budgeting along with strategic data insights in real time, helping them to make smart timely decisions and reach their business objectives.

Automation and time efficiency

How does Prophix’s budgeting, forecasting and reporting capabilities contribute to helping finance teams save time and make smarter and more strategic decisions impacting their business?
Prophix’s financial performance platform elevates the role of finance teams to become mission-critical leaders in achieving their companies’ success. Through Prophix, time-consuming processes of budgeting, planning, closing and reporting processes are automated on one simple to use platform, saving finance professionals from valuable time they could be spending elsewhere. Cycles like budgeting, forecasting and reporting can be set up with the necessary dependencies to allow the next step of the process to be started up automatically once its predecessors have completed. This encourages engagement and collaboration with status on upcoming tasks and deadlines, along with reminders to assure your processes are completed and on time. Additionally, it ensures stakeholders are informed on the next steps and timelines.

Prophix’s platform is integrated with multiple business systems across the organization, including ERP systems and Excel spreadsheets, providing one single, unified view of your financial truth while also supporting and encouraging enhanced collaboration across the organization.

Prophix’s built-in AI and machine learning capabilities enable even greater accuracy and high-level actionable insights for strategic decision making, augmenting the way finance professionals work. We are continuously exploring new technologies like generative AI and looking for ways to further enhance our platform capabilities and features while also ensuring our customers’ mission critical, business sensitive information is secured and protected.

Meeting future needs

How do Prophix’s expanded capabilities, including its robust analytics engine using AI and machine learning, support finance leaders in today’s dynamic business landscape?
One of Prophix’s key differentiators from other FP&A providers is its passion for continued innovation, which is reflected in its product portfolio that incorporates advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning to reinvent the way finance professionals do their jobs.

Prophix introduced its AI-powered insights capabilities to provide finance executives with meaningful information more quickly than ever, positioning them in a more strategic role within their company. The AI-enabled implementation enables chart insights that eliminate time-consuming manual tasks, as well as anomaly detection features to help finance professionals quickly conduct “forensic analyses” of their data to spot and mitigate any potential risks not detected by the human eye. These advanced features are an essential step forward in the digital transformation of the finance industry.

User experience and confidence

Could you elaborate on how Prophix’s new capabilities, especially Advisor, enhance user experience and confidence for FP&A teams?

Having earned its reputation for its industry-leading corporate performance management (CPM) software, in the last year Prophix expanded its software solutions capabilities into one integrated platform to better meet finance leaders’ needs today and into the future. New capabilities include: Advisor, which provides users with benchmarks and optimization advice to enhance the user experience and confidence for FP&A teams; and Predictive Forecasting, which helps finance leaders accelerate budgets and planning, by comparing actuals, variances and forecasts supplying finance leaders with support for agile reforecasting and planning.
Prophix’s Advisor is a tool that analyzes a finance team’s Prophix models for inefficiencies and then recommends where and how you can make changes to improve performance. (If Advisor returns zero findings, you know that your model is completely optimized.) The tool examines models using a set of rules developed by Prophix. For each issue found, Advisor suggests specific modifications that are based on best practices developed over the years by our own in-house experts. What’s more, Advisor’s rules and recommendations are constantly updated so that they always reflect the most current best practices.

Strategic planning support

With predictive forecasting, how does Prophix provide support for agile forecasting and planning, considering actuals, variances, and forecasts?
As forecasting demands have become more complex, the days of static or fixed forecasts are over. Rolling forecasts allow you to work with constantly updated data to reflect even the slightest changes in your business or market dynamics. By leveraging live actuals, historical forecasts in the system, carry-forward capabilities, and the flexibility to apply assumptions at any level. With Prophix agile forecasting features we make it quick and easy for finance teams to create and evolve rolling forecasts to gain greater insight into the future and stay ahead of their competition.

With the ability to set owners and approvers of tasks while helping team members adhere to deadlines with reminders and deadlines, all stakeholders are constantly informed and aligned in a unified planning process.

Through Prophix’s forecasting features, teams have the flexibility to customize their planning models to match their business needs; regardless if you plan “top-down” or “bottom-up,” you can plan your way. Additionally, users have freedom to update forecasts, approve plans and manipulate numbers using the software they are most comfortable with – whether its the Prophix web interface or the familiarity and convenience of Microsoft Excel.

Challenges addressed

In developing new capabilities, were there specific challenges or pain points in the finance industry that Prophix aimed to address?
Prophix’s financial performance platform is built specifically for the needs of CFOs and finance teams, an area of the business where inefficient data processes cost U.S. companies roughly $7.8 billion per year.

According to a Prophix survey of more than 500 global finance leaders, more finance leaders are committing to cloud-based FP&A software for more accurate, real-time data insights to more nimbly forecast, plan strategically, and manage risk in today’s volatile markets.

The survey showed finance teams value quick, automated budgeting, planning, closing and reporting processes, but equally important is having a platform that is simultaneously simple to use, feature-rich, and is integrated with multiple business systems across the organization, including ERP systems and Excel spreadsheets.
This supports and encourages enhanced collaboration across the enterprise. Additionally, more finance teams globally are ready to embrace more advanced AI and machine learning capabilities to elevate their data insights and strategic decision making or greater business outcomes.

At Prophix we are always making product enhancements with our customer in mind. Prophix’s financial performance platform addresses all these requests with the objective to continuously meet our customers’ evolving needs – empowering them to remain nimble and competitive now and into the future.

Personal advice

As the CFO, what advice or insights can you share with fellow finance professionals based on your experience at Prophix?
Treat the business as if it’s your own business and act accordingly.

My job is not to tally up numbers and tell a story—it’s to actually be involved in the business every single day from an operational perspective. I think that it’s so easy to get caught up and not really think about the world in this way—you just want to get through the day, get through the month-end, get through the audit, get through whatever step it is. But actually, sitting back and focusing on the business and helping it as best you can—being of service to the business—is critically important.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, what thoughts would you like to share regarding Prophix’s journey and the innovative strides in the finance technology sector?
Looking across the corporate landscape, finance leaders find themselves at a true inflection point – embrace the possibilities that new, advanced financial performance technology can deliver for their businesses and their employees or continue to rely on processes that just barely meet the standards of the modern finance department. For organizations that are ready to embrace substantive progress within the office of the CFO, Prophix has never been better positioned to fundamentally improve the overall experience for its customers. We’ve built a platform that enables global finance leaders to eliminate the manual processes that inhibit business performance, while accessing, interpreting, and reporting critical financial performance data with agility and precision.

The office of the CFO has never been more critical to business success and Prophix has the expertise and technology to let them meet this moment. We’re truly excited for what lies ahead.

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FLEETCOR Enters into Cooperation Agreement with D. E. Shaw Group

BusinessWire — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 18:00:16 +0000

FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT) (“FLEETCOR” or the “Company”), a leading global business payments company, today announced it has entered into a cooperation agreement with one of its long-term shareholders, the D. E. Shaw group. As part of the agreement, FLEETCOR has appointed Rahul Gupta to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), agreed to add another, mutually agreed-upon director to the Board and agreed to form an ad hoc Strategic Review Committee.

Board Refresh

FLEETCOR’s appointment of Mr. Gupta and the Company’s agreement to add a second new director advances the Company’s Board refreshment process, which is intended to enhance the diversity of the Board and deepen its skill set in technology and financial oversight. These new appointments follow the January appointment of Annabelle Bexiga, a technology executive. Upon appointment of the second new director, it is expected that one of the Company’s longer tenured directors will retire.

Portfolio Review

Additionally, FLEETCOR will undertake a review of its portfolio and business configuration, with the goal of driving enhanced shareholder value. The portfolio review will assist the Board as it considers various strategic alternatives, including but not limited to the possible separation of one or more of the Company’s businesses. The Company will prioritize this assessment and intends to complete the portfolio review by the end of 2023. The Company will have no further comment on the status of the review until its conclusion. This review will complement the Company’s ongoing business simplification plan initiative.

“We are pleased to appoint Rahul Gupta to our Board, and welcome new perspectives that will help shape our path forward,” says Ron Clarke, Chairman and CEO of FLEETCOR.

“We appreciate our constructive engagement with Ron and the FLEETCOR Board, along with the addition of Rahul Gupta to the Board. We are pleased that the Company will explore portfolio alternatives to highlight the strength of each of its underlying businesses with the goal of unlocking substantial value for all shareholders. We look forward to our continued collaborative dialogue with the Company,” said Michael O’Mary, Managing Director at D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P.

Under the terms of the cooperation agreement, FLEETCOR and the D. E. Shaw group have agreed to customary standstill, voting commitments, and other provisions. A copy of the cooperation agreement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor to FLEETCOR, and Jones Day is serving as legal counsel to FLEETCOR.

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Docupace integrates with Axos Advisor Services

PRNewswire — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 17:00:41 +0000

Docupace, the leader in cloud-based fintech digital operations software for the wealth management industry, today announces a new strategic integration with Axos Advisor Services, a prominent provider of comprehensive custody and securities clearing services to registered investment advisors (RIAs) and independent broker-dealers, to provide joint customers with a digitally-enhanced process for opening new client accounts.

“As a centralized back office nerve center for wealth management operations, deep integrations connecting the Docupace Platform with strategic partners is key differentiator of our platform,” says Michael Pinsker, Docupace founder and president. “Connecting the Docupace’s distinctive back office capabilities with category-leading partners like Axos rightly places automation and digitization at the heart of a financial advisory firms’ business process strategy.”

Connecting the powerful client data gathering tools, esignature capabilities and extensive forms library of the Docupace Platform with Axos’ flexible custodial solutions for today’s RIAs and broker-dealers helps pave the way for more financial advisors to serve more clients and serve them more completely.

“Using the right technology efficiently is an important key to success in today’s competitive environment,” says Mike Watson, SVP and Head of RIA Custody for Axos Advisor Services. “The Docupace integration allows us to deliver a best-in-class technology solution to RIAs, enabling them to seamlessly open client accounts and provide an optimal client experience.”

Unmatched Network of Connectivity and Collaboration
A growing gap between the capabilities offered by “all-in-one” platforms and the experiences delivered to clients, financial advisors and administrative professionals is driving the financial advice and investment industry to evolve. In today’s crowded and rapidly changing wealthtech marketplace, financial services institutions looking to achieve scalable back-office operations beyond the traditional all-in-one technology solution or cobbling together an array of individual plug-and-play products.

Through a one-of-a-kind network of proprietary capabilities, notable customers and like-minded wealthtech industry partners the Docupace Platform offers RIAs and broker-dealers an alternative “middle-ground” approach to optimize operations.

Think you know Docupace? Think Again. Click here to schedule a no-sales, just truth conversation with a Docupace Platform SME.

Special Joint Webinar “Best Kept Secrets of High-Performing RIAs” Coming in July
Deploying the proper technology and using it efficiently is one of the strongest growth drivers and the key to better serving clients. On Thursday, July 28 at 4:30, Axos Advisor Services and Docupace CEO David Knoch will be hosting a informative webinar “Best Kept Secrets of High-Performing RIAs” illuminating sustainable strategies growing RIA firms have leveraged to fuel their upward trajectory. Join us to learn more about how to maximize these top drivers of RIA firm growth:

Digitally enabled client onboarding
AI-powered tools to support clients and staff
Emerging fintech tools that can improve your client experience

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TFA Tactical Income Fund – Financial Advisors Investment choice

PRNewswire — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 18:00:12 +0000

Financial Advisors choosing the TFA Tactical Income Fund as part of a portfolio today, experience agility, flexibility and adaptability, as compared to the inflexibility typically associated with the bond space. The TFA Clearinghouse unique approach uses a team of up to 7 hand-picked managers and sub-advisors, resulting in the ability to make quick, nimble investment adjustments.

Tactical Fund Advisors (TFA), a registered investment advisory firm, managing six tactical mutual funds, today announced that their TFA Tactical Income Fund is an alternative in today’s down bond market.

Bonds were the bull market for the last 40 years, so as a general rule virtually all financial advisors have never seen a bad bond market. Yet today, that bad bond market is a reality, due in a large part to rising interest rates and bonds losing money. Financial Advisors are looking for new bond strategies for the changing bond market.

One such response to today’s market is the TFA Tactical Income Fund, a “market-responsive” choice of advisors. The fund is an actively risk-managed, non-traditional bond fund designed for fixed income investors. The fund seeks to provide high current income with a secondary objective of capital appreciation. Read more about the fund here: TFA Tactical Income Fund

“Right now, the dynamics of how investing should be approached has changed,” said Drew Horter, President & CEO of TFA. “It is a marketplace demanding new, effective investing techniques. We believe that based on today’s market, investors should consider an allocation to Tactical Income Fund in their portfolio.”

Managing the fund through a unique Clearinghouse strategy, TFA is able to set out finding the particular individual skill set needed based on varying opportunities or risks as market conditions change.

“With our Clearinghouse approach, we go to our deep bench of financial advisor specialists, bringing in different managers/advisors based on current market conditions,” continued Horter. “It’s like a baseball manager going to the bench for an ace pitcher. It’s a unique approach, yes, and one that allows us to be flexible during the worst bond market that industry experts have ever seen.”

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Beacon Pointe Announces Investment from Investment firm KKR

PRNewswire — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 15:30:42 +0000

Strategic Partnership to Enhance Growth of Leading Wealth Management Firm and Accelerate M&A Strategy

Beacon Pointe, LLC, parent company to Beacon Pointe Advisors, LLC (“Beacon Pointe” or the “Company”) and KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which KKR will make an investment in Beacon Pointe. The Beacon Pointe team will continue to own over 50% of the Company going forward, and Abry Partners (“Abry”) will fully exit its investment in Beacon Pointe as a result of this transaction.

KKR’s investment will provide Beacon Pointe with growth capital to support key priorities and continue the Company’s strategy for national expansion through new office openings and acquisitions. Beacon Pointe’s brand, culture and executive leadership team will remain intact, and clients will continue to receive the same level of high-quality, high-touch and high-tech services, delivered by the same core advisory teams. With KKR’s support, Beacon Pointe will further invest in technology, personnel and employees’ professional growth, and will establish a Beacon Pointe charitable fund.

Founded in 2002, Beacon Pointe Advisors is one of the largest independent registered investment advisory (RIA) firms in the nation with over $20 billion in assets under management and more than 110 financial advisors serving more than 10,000 clients in 27 offices across the U.S. Beacon Pointe’s proprietary allWEALTH® approach provides clients access to institutional quality investments, strategic life and legacy planning, and impact initiatives. As the largest female-led independent RIA in the country serving foundations, retirement plans and private clients, Beacon Pointe further differentiates itself with its dedicated Women’s Advisory Institute launched in 2011 to help women reach their financial goals.

“We are particularly excited about what this strategic partnership will mean for our team, company growth and, most importantly, the services we provide to our clients,” said Beacon Pointe CEO, Shannon Eusey. “With the support of KKR’s deep experience and resources, Beacon Pointe will have the opportunity to further invest in the business and continue to expand our footprint across the nation.”

“Shannon and the Beacon Pointe team have built an incredibly dynamic, client-centric business, which we are excited to invest behind as they continue to take the company to new heights,” said Chris Harrington, KKR Partner who leads KKR’s Financial Services investment team. “With its differentiated model, thoughtful approach to growth, and exceptional focus on client experience, Beacon Pointe is well-positioned to continue gaining share and scale within the growing and highly fragmented U.S. RIA market.”

The investment from KKR comes during a period of significant growth for Beacon Pointe. Over the past 18 months, the Company has grown by $10 billion in assets under management and has nearly doubled its professional staff.

“It is really something to think back to our humble roots when we founded Beacon Pointe twenty years ago,” commented Garth Flint, co-founder of Beacon Pointe Advisors. “I am very happy to see our institutional origins and entrepreneurial spirit still intact through our ongoing growth. We have incredible people at Beacon Pointe, and it is incredible people that make a wonderful impact on creating positive, long-lasting client experiences.”

Commie Stevens, Beacon Pointe Chief Practice Officer, said, “We are grateful to Abry for their support as an early investor in our business and we are very excited for a bright future ahead with our new strategic partner, KKR.”

With eight acquisitions already closed in 2021 and several more expected to close before the end of the year, Beacon Pointe is on pace for its busiest year yet. The Company has extensive plans for ongoing expansion and growth that it expects to be able to accelerate with the support of KKR.

“We have a remarkable level of organic growth and acquisition-based growth at Beacon Pointe, and we know that a growing company is one that provides our clients with a superior service experience, greater professional development opportunities for our team and the opportunity to have an even larger positive impact within our communities. It is in this spirit that the successful evolution of our business makes now an ideal time to fuel our next chapter of growth,” said Matt Cooper, President of Beacon Pointe Advisors.

KKR is making its investment in Beacon Pointe through its North American private equity strategy. The transaction is expected to close before year-end, subject to customary closing conditions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Beacon Pointe and Alston & Bird LLP served as legal counsel to the Company. Ardea Partners LP served as the financial advisor to KKR, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to KKR.

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Orion Offers Free Planning Platform to All Advisors

BusinessWire — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 19:30:42 +0000

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing widespread disruption to the stock market, economy, and financial world as a whole, financial advisors are responding to a surge in the need for advice and guidance. To assist advisors during this time, Orion Advisor Tech (“Orion”), a division of Orion Advisor Solutions and the premier provider of financial advisor technology, announces today that it will be offering free self-guided acces

Beginning April 1, all firms will be able to use Orion’s modern financial planning technology, regardless of whether they are existing clients of Orion. Free self-guided access to the planning platform will continue through July 1.

“We’ve seen the incredible positive impact financial planning can have on investors, especially in a market such as this one,” says Kyle Hiatt, Chief Revenue Officer of Orion Advisor Solutions. “Investors need professional advice and guidance more than ever. They must be grounded in the big picture of long-term goals synthesized with realistic projections, so they aren’t just watching their 401(k) balances shrink with no context. Orion Planning creates those personalized experiences for investors and gives advisors the tools they need to have meaningful conversations with clients about their financial health.”

Furthermore, Orion will be offering advisors client communication campaign support to help them address market volatility during the COVID-19 crisis.

The accessible marketing campaign materials illustrate the tremendous value of financial planning, especially during a market downturn. Advisors are encouraged to use this collateral to reach out to those who have been financially affected by COVID-19, in an effort to provide financial peace of mind as they focus on the health of themselves and their families.

“Supporting our firms doesn’t begin and end with traditional advisor tech,” explains Kelly Waltrich, Orion’s Chief Marketing Officer. “And as this pandemic continues, juxtaposed against the flailing stock market, communication with clients is only going to become more critical. We want our advisors to know that if they’re overwhelmed or overworked trying to juggle an influx of client concerns along with their daily operational tasks, we’re here to help.”

Orion is also offering assistance for financial advisors without cloud-based technology, who are unable to perform their jobs effectively from home. The newly developed “Business as Usual” program is designed specifically to assist financial firms whose current technology is preventing them from running their businesses successfully during this time.

Firms who aren’t currently working with Orion and are relying on limited or installed technology will be able to access Orion’s cloud-based suite of solutions in order to continue operations.

“We’re in uncharted waters,” explains Hiatt. “In times like these, it does our industry and our world no good to put up walls; the only way to get through such a global crisis is to lend a hand to those who need it. Our business has always been about serving financial advisors and helping them better serve their clients. When we looked around, we saw firms with no remote capabilities and two grim choices: risk their employees’ health by asking them to complete operational tasks from the office, or shut down completely during the pandemic.”

Through the Business as Usual program, advisory firms who sign contracts within the next two weeks will receive priority onboarding to accommodate core business activities prior to the June 30 quarter end; free access through July 1 and deferred payment through Oct. 30; and five hours of outsourced business product support from Orion’s Special Work Ops Team (SWOT) for firms transitioning from installed technology, to be used for quarter-end audits, running reports, and generating bills.

Advisors interested in the Orion Planning platform or the Business as Usual program should contact the Orion team and indicate within the comment field which initiative will help support their business at this time.

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Larry Wash to Join Current Capital as Senior Advisor

Ashish Y. — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 17:30:56 +0000

Current Capital Partners LLC, an independent advisory and merchant banking firm focused primarily on industrial and services companies, announces that Larry Wash, an experienced senior leader in the industrial services industry, will join the company on March 1, 2020, as a Senior Advisor.

Most recently, Larry Wash was Executive VP for KONE Americas and served as a member of the Executive Board of KONE. In this role, he led a $2 billion business in Canada, the U.S., and Latin America. Larry also serves as Board President for the National Elevator Industry, a preeminent trade association for the building transportation industry. Investments

Managing Director of Current Capital, Kevin Smith, said “Larry brings a valuable set of experiences and relationships that will help us continue to grow our successful mergers and acquisitions advisory, corporate management services and private equity investing businesses. He is an exciting addition to our firm who, along with our Advisory Board and Executive Network, bring valuable ideas and proven operating expertise to our clients.”

As a senior executive with extensive experience running global organizations, Larry is skilled in developing strategic direction and implementing operational improvements to profitably develop businesses. He is also a well-respected thought leader, published author, and speaker on smart buildings, solution selling, services innovation, and emerging IoT services.

Larry Wash, before joining KONE, was President of Global Services for the Climate Solutions and Trane divisions of Ingersoll Rand with full responsibility for the management of their services businesses where he took care of a multi-year business transformation and worldwide growth strategy yielding double-digit growth and margin expansion. Fintech News

Before joining Ingersoll Rand, Larry was Vice President of Service & Contracting for Trane, where he looked after the services businesses in Latin America, Canada, and the U.S. and build the strategic and operational plans for Trane Building Services. Earlier in his career, Larry held the position of VP of Global Services for Xerox Corporation, responsible for global strategy, sales, marketing, business development, and operations.

From Wayne State University, Larry received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Larry also holds a degree in master’s in business administration from Stanford University and is a named Arjay Miller Scholar.

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