Sanctuary Wealth, an US wealth management firm majority-owned by Azimut Group, signed a binding agreement with New York-based Kennedy Lewis Investment Management to secure a financing of $175 million in the form of a convertible note.
The proceeds will support the future growth and business plan of Sanctuary over the medium term, including further M&A and strategic investments in both technology and talent, according the firm information.
Sanctuary, part of Azimut Group since 2021, is a platform of wealth managers, managing today over $15 billion in AUMs (versus $ 7 billion at the time of the Azimut acquisition).
Currently, the Sanctuary network includes 74 partner firms and over 135 financial advisors across 23 states in the United States.
Kennedy Lewis, founded in 2017, is a credit manager with $10 billion in AUMs across private debt funds and CLOs. The firm manages capital for more than 300 limited partners, including leading public and corporate pension plans, insurance companies, family offices, endowments & foundations with an extraordinary connectivity across the industry.
The transaction allows Sanctuary to have two strong institutional and strategic partners, Kennedy Lewis and Azimut, working together to accelerate and grasp all future growth opportunities in Sanctuary’s increasing distribution platform while strengthening the potential synergies with Azimut Group and its product capabilities across private and liquid investments.
At the same time, it allows Azimut to have more flexibility in its use of cash, consistent with what previously announced, including for M&A, buybacks and debt repayment.
This agreement follows the one completed in 2021 in Brazil where Azimut partnered with XP to accelerate the growth path in certain key international markets where it operates in order to achieve a higher profit contribution to Group economics.
The transaction is subject to customary conditions precedent and is expected to be completed by June 30th, 2022. Following the completion of the transaction, Azimut will be the second largest a strategic minority shareholder in Sanctuary and hence consolidate Sanctuary’s AuM on a pro-rata basis as opposed to the current full consolidation.