NFP to sell itself for about $1.01B
National Financial Partners to sell itself to private equity firm for about $1.01B
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wealth management services provider National Financial Partners Corp. said Monday that it will sell itself to private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for about $1.01 billion.
Under the terms of the deal, National Financial Partners shareholders will receive $25.35 in cash for each of their shares. The price represents an 8 percent premium over the company's Friday closing stock price. In morning trading, NFP shares rose 6.9 percent to $25.02 on the news.
The New York firm is led by Jessica Bibliowicz, the daughter of former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill.
NFP said last month that its board formed a committee to consider a possible sale after receiving indications of interest from private equity firms. The committee negotiated the deal with Madison Dearborn and it was later unanimously approved by the company's board.
Based on NFP's 39.88 million outstanding shares, the deal is worth about $1.01 billion. The company said the deal has an equity value of about $1.3 billion, which includes the full value of its convertible debt.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc. and UBS Securities LLC have pledged to finance the deal.
The sale, which remains subject to shareholder approval, is expected to close in the third quarter.
Bibliowicz has been NFP's CEO since 1999 and chairman since 2003. The company said she plans to step down as chief executive in May.
