Amid stories that Envestnet has been put up for sale, media speculation swirls that a large US private equity house is near to sealing a deal.

US private equity firm Bain Capital is close to buying financial software vendor Envestnet, valued at around $3.5 billion, Reuters reported yesterday. 

A deal could be unveiled as soon as this week, the report said. 

The Reuters report said that Envestnet and Bain did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Family Wealth Report has also contacted Bain Capital and Envestnet for comment, and may update this report in due course.

Envestnet is in flux: at the start of 2024, Bill Crager officially announced his official resignation as CEO although, as this analysis from FWR's US correspondent showed in January, the writing was on the wall for Crager, given complaints about the firm’s stock market performance. 

Yesterday, shares in Envestnet traded just over $63.25. Since January, they have risen 27.5 per cent.

Envestnet provides technology tools to financial advisors and wealth managers. Crager co-founded Envestnet with the late Jud Bergman in 1999, tapping into the fast growing independent advisory business. Envestnet became the industry’s most prominent TAMP [turnkey asset management program] as well as a powerhouse provider of  fintech-driven back office services, working with more than 103,000 at 4,900 firms which have a combined $5.4 trillion in client assets.

In 2023, the firm added new directors to end a board challenge from activist investor Impactive Capital that had been pushing to improve results. There have been reports before that Envestnet is up for sale.