The New York private-equity firm Lightyear Capital LLC announced Tuesday that it has signed a definitive agreement to buy the ING Advisor Network and three of its five broker-dealers.
Lightyear would acquire Financial Network Investment Corp., Multi-Financial Securities Corp. and PrimeVest Financial Services Inc.
Valerie Brown, the chief executive of ING Advisor Network, would remain CEO and continue to lead the business.
The deal is scheduled to close next quarter. The price was not disclosed.
"We think that the whole financial management industry, including 401(k), is going to grow in this country and it is a very important area for us to be involved in," Donald B. Marron, Lightyear's chairman and CEO, said in an interview Tuesday. "We looked at several opportunities, and we thought that this was a very good one."
Last week Lightyear announced that it had agreed to inject $40 million into Cascade Bancorp in Bend, Ore.
Financial Network, Multi-Financial and PrimeVest had combined gross revenue of $653 million for the 12 months that ended June 30, with $70.2 billion of assets under management and roughly 5,700 representatives.
