Sources: $37B Allworth Exploring Majority Stake Sale
Allworth Financial, the Folsom, Calif.-based registered investment advisor with about $36.5 billion in client assets, is in market with its majority owners, Lightyear Capital and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, for a potential sale, according to two sources familiar with the move.
Allworth is working with banking firm William Blair to lead the sale process, according to the sources.
Lightyear Capital and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan bought a majority stake in Allworth from Parthenon Capital in 2020, which had invested in the firm in 2017.
Allworth declined to comment on the move. Lightyear Capital, Ontario Teachers and William Blair did not respond to a request for comment.
Since that initial stake in 2017, Allworth has completed over 40 acquisitions and grown to about 40 offices throughout the United States. It has also boosted client assets from about $8.6 billion in 2020 to its current $36.5 billion today, according to company filings and a spokesperson.
Six other executives, including CEO John Bunch, hold stakes of less than 5% in the firm, according to its most recent Form ADV.
According to that filing, Allworth has recently shuttered about eight of its offices. The advisors working in them are still with the firm and working from new locations.
Last year, Allworth made one of its largest acquisitions with Salzinger Sheaff Brock and Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors, which had combined assets of $1.5 billion. CEO Bunch told Wealth Management at the time the deal signaled a shift for the firm toward larger, more sophisticated firms working with higher-net-worth clients.
Over half of Allworth’s clients are marked in the individual category in its most recent Form ADV from March 20, signaling a strong presence in the mass affluent market.
Last week, Allworth launched the Allworth Women’s Collective, a firmwide initiative to accelerate the growth of its female client base and talent. Allworth will feature the Women’s Collective on its website to raise clients’ and prospects’ awareness of the firm’s female talent. The firm will also call out specific segments and specialties that may be of interest to women, such as divorcees and business owners.