Sequoia Financial Group sold a minority stake to Valeas Capital Partners for $200 million as the wealth manager seeks additional capital for acquisitions.
Sequoia plans to use the money for expansion and to invest in its employees and technology, the firm said in a statement. The Akron, Ohio-based registered investment adviser oversaw about $10 billion in client assets at year-end.
“The Valeas investment is further validation of Sequoia’s talented team, significant growth potential, and strategic vision,” Tom Haught, Sequoia’s founder and chief executive officer, said in the statement.
Banks, private equity firms and RIA aggregators are among those competing to invest in wealth-management firms after two years of pandemic-era stimulus and a prolonged bull market swelled Americans’ bank accounts and increased the ranks of those seeking advice. Eight of the 10 largest U.S. wealth-management deals in the second quarter were direct investments by private equity firms or acquisitions by companies backed by a private equity partner, according to a recent Echelon Partners report.
Valeras was founded in 2021 by Rob Little and Ed Woiteshek, who previously worked together at Hellman & Friedman. Sequoia is the San Francisco-based private equity firm’s third portfolio investment and the first in financial services, according to the statement. Both Little and Woiteshek will join Sequoia’s board after the deal is completed.
