Lovell Minnick Partners, LLC, a private equity firm specializing in financial and related business services companies, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Foreside Financial Group, LLC. Foreside provides a variety of regulatory compliance and distribution solutions to clients in the investment management industry. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
Established in 2005 and based in Portland, Maine, Foreside has quickly grown to become a U.S. market leader in its space, and enjoys an excellent reputation as a best-in-class service provider across its mix of services. The company is led by Chief Executive Officer Richard Berthy and President Dave Whitaker, who will remain shareholders and continue in their current management roles.
Foreside delivers outsourced services to investment advisers and broker dealers, including the financial products they manage or distribute. Servicing over $800 billion of fund products, Foreside offers outsourced solutions for legal underwriting, FINRA licensing, compliance consulting, fund officer services and trust governance. Demand for Foreside’s services is likely to continue to grow as a result of increasing and costly fund compliance requirements, growing risk management needs, new fund launches, AUM growth and greater cross-border investment activity.
“Our relationship with Lovell Minnick goes back many years, and we share a strategic vision to achieve greater scale in our core distribution and compliance services for investment managers and their funds, both in the U.S. and offshore markets,” said Berthy. “Lovell Minnick has an excellent track record of partnering with financial services firms in the investment management industry, and their capital and strategic insight will help us grow our client base and offerings while ensuring that we continue to deliver first class service.”
Lovell Minnick believes the market opportunity for outsourced fund and compliance services is compelling. The firm holds ownership stakes in several of Foreside’s existing clients, including 361 Capital, Chartwell Investment Partners, and Matthews International Capital Management.
“As one of the most respected outsourced service providers in the asset management industry, Foreside is uniquely positioned to help clients navigate the changing financial and regulatory landscape,” said Spencer Hoffman, a Partner at Lovell Minnick. “We look forward to working closely with Rich, Dave and the rest of Foreside’s strong management team as they execute their strategy to grow the business and to further broaden the scope of services they provide.”
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017, subject to customary regulatory reviews and approvals. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP served as legal counsel to Lovell Minnick Partners.
About Lovell Minnick Partners, LLC
Lovell Minnick Partners, LLC, is a private equity firm with expertise in investing in the financial and related business services sectors. With offices in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York, Lovell Minnick provides developing companies with equity capital to support private company recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, and pursue growth initiatives. Since its inception in 1999, Lovell Minnick Partners has raised $1.7 billion in committed capital and has completed investments in over 30 companies. Targeted investment areas include asset management, financial product distribution, insurance, banks, specialty finance, and related technology and business services. For more information, please visit www.lovellminnick.com.
About Foreside
Foreside delivers a range of distribution and compliance solutions to clients in the investment management industry. Foreside services open- and closed-end funds, exchange traded products, commodity pools, private placements, investment advisers and registered broker-dealers.
Foreside’s service offerings include legal underwriting, FINRA licensing, adviser and broker-dealer compliance consulting, fund officer services, and trust governance. Currently, Foreside distributes over $800 billion of product through our established broker-dealers. Foreside’s solutions allow its clients to focus on asset management without sacrificing distribution and compliance best practices. Foreside is headquartered in Portland, Maine and has offices in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Boston, Massachusetts, and Columbus, Ohio. For more information on Foreside’s suite of services, please visit our website at www.foreside.com.
