Silver Lane Advisors, the 12-year old New York-based investment bank specializing in RIA M&A transactions, is used to making deals, not being part of one.
But after pursuing the firm for two years, Raymond James Financial persuaded Silver Lane to become part of its own investment banking division. The sale is expected to close by April.
“It’s about growth,” says Liz Nesvold, Silver Lane’s founder and managing partner. “We need to add capabilities for clients and human capital. And we want to spend our time doing deals. This enables us to do that. We could not have whiteboarded a better partner.”
Silver Lane will continue to work with advisory firms and asset managers as it always has, Nesvold says.
“For larger clients, we’ll now be able to bring equity and debt capital market capabilities,” she adds. Silver Lane will also coordinate with Raymond James’ financial sponsors coverage group, which works closely with private equity firms.
One of the best-known dealmakers in the RIA M&A space, Silver Lane was described as “a high quality firm with a strong reputation in its focus areas,” by JMP Securities analyst Devin Ryan in a note to clients.
Liz Nesvold says she is “highly incented” by the deal.
Silver Lane has worked with clients including HighTower Advisors, Emigrant Bank and Tiedeman Advisors.
Ryan estimates Silver Lane’s revenue “in the range of $25 million with a reasonable band below or above,” making it “a complimentary and very small acquisition for Raymond James,” which has over $760 billion in client assets.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Ryan says it likely includes “an earn-out based on performance” provision. Nesvold says she is “highly incented” by the deal.
Silver Lane will remain in New York and Raymond James financial services investment banking head John Roddy will move to that office, Nesvold says.
Acquiring Silver Lane is “consistent with our long-term view of consolidation across the financial services space, [particularly] in the asset management and wealth management categories,” Jim Bunn, president of Raymond James global equities & investment banking said in a statement.
