Simpson Thacher is representing Advisor Group Holdings, Inc. and affiliated funds of Lightyear Capital LLC in the announced sale of Advisor Group Holdings to Reverence Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on investing in financial services businesses. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Lightyear and PSP Investments will continue to own minority stakes in the business.
Advisor Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest networks of independent financial advisors. Simpson Thacher previously represented the consortium of Lightyear and PSP Investments in their acquisition of Advisor Group from AIG in May 2016. Advisor Group’s client assets under administration have grown from $157 billion at the time of purchase in 2016 to $268 billion today. Over the same period of time, Advisor Group has grown from 5,200 financial advisors to more than 7,000 financial advisors.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Caroline Gottschalk, Ravi Purushotham, Jihyun Chung, Catherine Ciriello, Brendan Lane, Amanda Ng and Sung Jin (M&A); Ryan Bekkerus and Benjamin Heriaud (Capital Markets); James Cross and Michael Vernace (Credit); Gary Mandel, Sophie Staples and Abigail Hopper (Tax); Larry Moss, Alisa Tschorke and Jeanne Annarumma (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits); David Blass, Jason Herman and Lucie Enns (Funds); Lori Lesser and Genevieve Dorment (Intellectual Property); and Peter Guryan and Kelly Karapetyan (Antitrust).