M&A wrap: Envestnet, Pietech, MoneyGuide, Leonardo DiCaprio, Princeville, TPG

Wealth management company Envestnet (NYSE: ENV) is buying financial services technology company Pietech Inc. for $500 million. The target is known for its MoneyGuide software products that are designed to help "advisors use financial planning to more effectively motivate each client to create, implement and maintain an investment strategy that best meets their lifetime financial goals." Pietech's programs are integrated with 150 wealth management data and technology providers, and helped create more than two million financial plans in the last 12 months, according to the companies. "With MoneyGuide’s financial planning applications more deeply integrated into Envestnet’s wealth management solutions, enterprises, advisors and their clients can benefit from a frictionless wealth management technology solution across the application stack, driving higher productivity and better client outcomes," says Envestnet CEO Jud Bergman. Advisors to Envestnet include: PJT Partners and Mayer Brown. Advisors to Pietech include: Raymond James and Womble Bond Dickinson. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has joined Princeville Capital as an advisor for the firm's climate technology fund. Princeville invests in growing tech-related companies that “are driving a positive impact on climate change in a variety of sectors including energy efficiency, mobility, smart grid/IOT and smart cities.” DiCaprio said in a statement: “Tackling climate change requires an urgent, broad-based shift in our energy use – and technology and private sector investments will play a critical role in securing a healthier future for our planet." DiCaprio, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Revenant, is also known as an environmental activist. In 2017, he announced plans to donate $20 million to help combat climate change. For more, read the story from Bloomberg News: Leonardo DiCaprio Has a New Job: Advising a Climate Technology Fund. Alternative asset firm TPG, a backer of Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., says it has terminated William E. (“Bill”) McGlashan, Jr. after previously putting him on leave. The move comes after McGlashan was among the dozens of individuals charged on March 12 by federal officials in what the U.S. Justice Department says was a multimillion-dollar nation-wide scheme to cheat the college admissions process. McGlashan is the founder and managing partner of TPG Growth, the firm’s middle market investment group, and the co-founder and CEO of The Rise Fund, a social impact investment firm backed by U2's Bono, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and others. “Bill McGlashan has been terminated for cause from his positions with TPG and Rise effective immediately," said a TPG spokesperson in a statement shared with Mergers & Acquisitions. "After reviewing the allegations of personal misconduct in the criminal complaint, we believe the behavior described to be inexcusable and antithetical to the values of our entire organization. As we stated in the previous announcement of Mr. McGlashan’s administrative leave, Jim Coulter will take over managing partner responsibilities for TPG Growth and Rise.” Meanwhile McGlashan and his representatives say he resigned from TPG and Rise. For more, read the story from Bloomberg News: Bill McGlashan departs TPG after college admissions charges. Deal news Littlejohn Capital has bought Western Industries Plastic Products, a manufacturer of blow-molded products, from Speyside Equity LLC. Advising Littlejohn was Morrison Cohen LLP. W Capital Partners, Susquehanna Growth Equity and AB Private Credit Investors have acquired a minority stake in work automation company Workfront worth $280 million. Goodwin advised the target. For more deal news, see The weekly wrap: Huron, Mastercard, Smith & Nephew For more on PE fundraising, see PE fundraising scorecard: Mill Road, Nautic Partners, Summit People moves Mike Zappert has joined TPG Growth as a partner. Based in San Francisco, Zappert will help drive technology investing and strategy across the TPG Growth and The Rise Fund. Zappert comes to TPG Growth from Adams Street Partners, where he served as partner on the firm’s Growth Equity team. In his role, Zappert was responsible for the sourcing, execution and management of investments into B2B SaaS, data, and cloud companies. Rennie Faulkner has been named CEO at Gryphon Investors-backed logistics company Transportation Insight. Faulkner has been the company's CFO since 2010 and will continue to hold that title. Yvette Chan has been named managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, where she is leading the firm's Asia M&A tax advisory practice. Richard Chen and Colin Gater have also been promoted to managing directors at the same firm. Featured content Technology M&A is thriving, and private equity firms are hot on the trail of innovations that will drive sustainable value to customers and make companies more efficient, more effective and less expensive to run. Among the developments appealing to PE investors are: artificial intelligence, data management, data virtualization, digital marketing, healthcare IT, industrial automation, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine learning, payment processing and Software-as-a-Service. To gain more insights into what kinds of tech deals will dominate the field in 2019, Mergers & Acquisitions reached out to 10 private equity firms that are active investors in technology: Francisco Partners, Genstar, Great Hill, HGGC, Insight, LLR, Riverside, Silver Lake, TA and Vista. Related: 10 private equity firms share strategies for tech M&A. In Mergers & Acquisitions' annual look at strategic buyers, we see significant deals aimed at enhancing the customer relationship, including Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) purchase of PillPack, Nike Inc.'s (NYSE: NKE) acquisitions of Invertex Ltd. and Zodiac Inc. and Target Corp.s' (NYSE: TGT) acquisition of Shipt. Technology plays a key role in many transactions. But while technology is enabling developments, it’s not an end unto itself for many corporations. Instead, strategic buyers are using innovations as a means to achieve goals. Based on analyzing hundreds of recent deals, Mergers & Acquisitions has identified seven goals corporate dealmakers hope to accomplish through M&A transactions today: Integrate data with software; improve the customer experience and relationship; expand and improve distribution; process payments more efficiently; leverage tech trends, like autonomous vehicles; make manufacturing processes more efficient; and achieve better outcomes and efficiencies in healthcare. “Strategics have been really active,” says John Neuner, managing director, Harris Williams. “They are aggressive in pursuing the assets they want, as long as it fits within their strategy. Scale is critical to them, and they have to meet consumer demands by adding new capabilities.” Related: 7 reasons why smart companies Amazon, Nike, Target are doing M&A. Mergers & Acquisitions profiles the top 28 investment banks of 2018, with KPMG, Houlihan Lokey, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), William Blair and Lincoln International ranking as the five most active in M&A. The list is based on volume of completed deals, with PitchBook as the data provider. It was a good year for dealmaking, with activity in the U.S. middle market exceeding $400 billion, the first year to achieve the milestone. Related: Top investment banks: KPMG, Houlihan Lokey, Goldman Sachs, William Blair. Related: M&A soared in 2018; companies confident about dealmaking in 2019. Mergers & Acquisitions has named 36 leaders the 2019 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A, including Kainos Capital's Sarah Bradley, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors' Nishita Cummings and Pelham S2K Managers' Venita Fields. All 36 are outstanding dealmakers both inside and outside of their firms. This year, we asked the featured dealmakers to tell their own stories through Q&As, including their advice for women. Related: Meet the 2019 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A. Mergers & Acquisitions has closed the nomination process for the 2018 M&A Mid-Market Awards. We look forward to announcing the winners later in March. The Awards are one of three special reports we produce each year to celebrate deals, dealmakers and dealmaking firms. The other two are The Rising Stars of Private Equity and The Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A. Related: Special reports overview: M&A Mid-Market Awards, Rising Stars, Most Influential Women. Events The Women's Private Equity Summit is being held at the Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California, March 13-15. The Summit brings together more than 550 female professionals in private equity and venture capital. The ACG Chicago Women’s Network is hosting a lunchtime conversation with Dorri McWhorter, the CEO of YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, on March 19 at the University Club in Chicago. ACG New York's Women of Leadership is hosting a golf event and reception on March 21 at Konnect Golf in Manhattan. The event brings together female dealmakers from private equity firms, investment banks and lenders. Exponent Women LLC is hosting an evening of networking and conversation with leading economists at the New York office of Alliance Bernstein on April 4. Speakers include Lindsey Piegza, chief economist, Stifel Fixed Income, and Kathleen Fisher, head of wealth and investment strategies, Alliance Bernstein.