The acquisition-minded group has agreed to buy a firm led by a renowned restructuring banker.

(Updates earlier story with statement from Guggenheim Partners)

US-based Guggenheim Partners has agreed to buy advisory firm Millstein & Co, led by the high-profile restructuring banker Jim Millstein, the firms said, confirming media speculation of a deal being on the cards.

"Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking and capital markets division of Guggenheim Partners, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Millstein & Co., a leading advisor to companies, investors, and sovereigns with expertise in restructuring, sovereign advisory, and financial institutions.  The combination of Millstein’s advisory team with Guggenheim’s restructuring group creates one of the leading restructuring and liability management practices," a statement said. "Founder and CEO of Millstein & Co Jim Millstein will join Guggenheim as co-chairman of Guggenheim Securities alongside Alan Schwartz, executive chairman of Guggenheim Partners and co-chairman of Guggenheim Securities. Ronen Bojmel will lead the combined Guggenheim restructuring team," it said. 

The acquisition is subject to the usual regulatory approvals. 

“Alan [Schwartz] and his partners have built a first-class independent investment bank, and I look forward to helping them continue to grow its business through the combination of our respective restructuring and liability management businesses,” Millstein said. “In a world awash in debt, the need for creative solutions to help businesses, governments and investors avoid or mitigate the adverse impacts of financial distress is as great today as ever and the combination with Guggenheim will give us access to a deep bench of talented investment bankers to better serve the needs of our clients.”

In a number of roles, such as at Lazard, Millstein has played a prominent role in large corporate restructurings and bankruptcy cases. In 2009, Millstein joined the US Treasury Department to lead the government’s investment in the embattled insurer American International Group, aka AIG.

Guggenheim has more than $305 billion in assets.

On June 20, the Wall Street Journal reported that Guggenheim was in talks to swap a minority stake in Guggenheim for Munich Re’s asset-management business.

At the start of this week Guggeheim’s investment banking and capital markets unit, called Guggenheim Securities, appointed Punit Mehta as senior managing director in its healthcare investment banking group. He previously worked at Credit Suisse, and prior to that, at Barclays.