DYNASTY Financial Partners, a provider of back-office services to independent investment advisers, won backing from BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset Management as it looks to accelerate growth.
The minority capital raise values Dynasty at about US$800 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private details. The firm did not disclose the size of the deal, which also included previous investors.
Dynasty provides trading software, funding, investment banking and record-keeping for advisers – primarily those leaving brokerages to go independent. With merger-and-acquisition activity accelerating in the investment advisory market, Dynasty plans to put its investment banking arm to greater use. It also plans to make significant investments in technology.
“The firms on our platform and in the ecosystem overall are becoming larger and more sophisticated, and as a result of that the deals they are doing are becoming larger and more sophisticated,” chief executive officer Shirl Penney said in an interview. “We have a very robust investment banking group but some of these deals need capital.”
BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset join existing strategic investor Charles Schwab, which also participated in the round. Also taking part in the deal were long-term Dynasty investors like the Glick family office and members of Dynasty’s board, including chairman and former American Express CEO Harvey Golub, Penney said. The company used its own investment banking arm for the transaction.
The deal comes in the middle of a turbulent time for Dynasty’s home base of St Petersburg, Florida. The state’s already-battered west coast is bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Milton, a potentially catastrophic storm capable of collapsing homes, flattening trees and triggering power outages that could last weeks to months.
“I signed off on the deal in the middle of a hurricane, literally as the water was hitting the window of my house,” said Penney, who has a home on St Pete Beach, a barrier island west of St Petersburg. BLOOMBERG
