(Bloomberg) -- Reverence Capital Partners, the financial-services focused private equity group, is seeking buyers for a minority stake in Osaic, the network of wealth management firms formerly known as Advisor Group, people familiar with the matter said.
Reverence is seeking to sell up to 20% of Osaic, a stake that could be worth as much as $2.5 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Deliberations are ongoing and Reverence may yet opt to sell a larger holding, one of the people said.
A representative for Reverence declined to comment.
“Reverence is and continues to be an incredible long-term partner to Osaic,” Osaic Chief Executive Officer Jamie Price said in an emailed statement. “With the success we’ve had as a firm, we consistently have interest from other investors looking to invest.”
One of the largest independent broker/dealers in the US, Osaic has grown rapidly in recent years thanks in part to acquisitions including Ladenburg Thalmann in 2020. Broker/dealers help money managers that own their own practices with back-office functions such as custody and clearing, among other services.
Osaic used to be a division of American International Group Inc., which sold the business to Lightyear Capital in 2016. Reverence agreed to buy it three years later.
The company rebranded as Osaic in June as part of a plan to unite its eight wealth-management businesses into one entity supporting more than 11,000 financial professionals, it said in a statement at the time.
Reverence Capital provides private equity and structured-capital to middle-market companies. It was founded in 2013 by Milton Berlinski, Peter Aberg and Alex Chulack.
