Envestnet Inc. (ENV) announced April 5 that it had closed on its acquisition of Prima Capital, the Denver-based provider of investment manager research, due diligence and asset allocation modeling. Former Prima CEO Gib Watson will head a new operating division within Envestnet called Envestnet | Prima as group president. In addition, Prima’s Cliff Stanton will continue to head the company’s research team as chief research officer and portfolio strategist for Envestnet | Prima.
In its release on the closing of the acquisition, Envestnet noted that Prima’s clients include seven of the top 20 banks in the U.S. by total assets, regional broker-dealers, trust companies and accounting firms. Prima’s team will remain headquartered in Denver, but will relocate two blocks to Envestnet’s Denver offices, or as Watson described it in a February interview with AdvisorOne, as “a weak seven-iron shot” away from Prima’s current offices.
The acquisition was first announced in February 2012, when Envestnet said it would acquire Prima for $13.7 million. It was the second of three acquisitions within the past six months by Chicago-based Envestnet, a provider of a wealth management platform for broker-dealers and RIAs that includes portfolio management, research, advisory services and tools.
In December 2011, Envestnet closed on the acquisition of BNP Paribas’ U.S. TAMP operation Fundquest, for $24.4 million in cash. It announced the pending acquisition of Prima on Feb. 10, 2012, for $13.7 million, also in cash. On Feb. 16, 2012, it said it would acquire the portfolio management technology company Tamarac for $54 million in cash. In an interview following the Tamarac announcement, Envestnet Chairman and CEO Jud Bergman (left) said, “We’re a strongly positive cash flow company; so we’re generating cash,” but that going public in 2010 “gave us the means to implement our strategy.”