(Bloomberg) -- Envestnet Inc., a provider of wealth-management software, is drawing takeover interest from buyers including Advent International and GTCR, according to people familiar with the matter.
The private equity firms are among suitors that have expressed interest in a deal, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing confidential information. Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based Envestnet has been working with a financial adviser to explore options, they said.
Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty either Advent or GTCR will decide to pursue a transaction, the people said. Envestnet could also attract interest from strategic suitors, they said. Representatives for Advent, GTCR and Envestnet declined to comment.
Envestnet's stock price jumped 4.15% as of 10 a.m. Thursday, giving the company a market value of about $3.8 billion.
Private equity firms have been ramping up their interest in the broad software and financial technology sectors, where businesses tend to have reliable cash flows and can be scaled up through acquisitions.
In April, Advent agreed to buy Canadian payments processor Nuvei Corp. for $6.3 billion, including debt, while GTCR signed an agreement to acquire AssetMark Financial Holdings that valued the wealth management platform’s equity at $2.7 billion. Buyout firms and industry players have also held talks in recent months with payments processor Shift4 Payments Inc.
Envestnet offers software and data to wealth managers, banks and other clients that helps them manage and evaluate investments. More than 108,000 advisers and over 1,300 clients use its technology and services, according to its latest annual report. Bloomberg News reported in December that the company was exploring a sale of Yodlee, a data-aggregation firm that it acquired in 2015.
Reuters reported in April that Envestnet is exploring a sale after getting takeover interest.
