Private Equity

Six months ago private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners raised a $750million fund and they are focusing on middle-market financial services companies. Sources said that the original goal for the fund was $550million.
Imagine that. They exceeded the target by $200million!

This is Lovell Minnick’s fourth fund, the last one was for $455million. These are big numbers when you consider that the fund is planning to make investments of between $20million and $100million.

Who invested in Lovell Minnick Equity Partners lV? Endowments, foundations, insurance companies , pension funds, family offices, and other institutional investors including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, RCP Advisors, Turn Bridge Capital Partners and PPM America. (According to Lovell Minnick’s website).

Three weeks ago we all got a glimpse of what big smart money like the LMEP fund wants to keep doing in the wealth management space when Lovell Minnick sold Kanaly Trust to Mercer, retaining a stake in the $8billion firm.
Mercer CEO David Barton is reportedly in the market for RIAs in the $100million to $500million range (they just bought Spruce Hill , a $110million Connecticut based RIA).

Private Equity firms are tripping over each other, sometimes literally, chasing and selling RIAs as the M&A market continues to hit new records. PE firm Hellman and Freidman bought mega-RIA Edelman Financial Services from another PE firm, Lee Equity Partners.

We will continue to focus our attention on the private equity funds and firms. Carlyle has done billion dollar raises for fin services in the past ($1.1billion Carlyle Global Financial Services Partners in 2008).

And I can imagine Lovell Minnick V hitting that magic number one day, maybe soon.
It’s good to be an RIA owner these days.