Norton Rose Fulbright advises Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. in its $1.7 billion acquisition by Macquarie Group

Norton Rose Fulbright represented Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE: WDR), an investment management and wealth management services firm, in its merger with Macquarie Asset Management, the asset management division of Macquarie Group. Under this agreement, Macquarie would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Waddell & Reed for an equity value of $1.7 billion.

Upon completion of this transaction, Macquarie has agreed to sell Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.’s wealth management platform to, and enter into a long-term partnership with, LPL Financial Holdings Inc., a retail investment advisory firm.

Through its subsidiaries, Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. has provided investment management and wealth management services to clients since 1937. As of October 31, 2020, Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.’s asset management business had $66 billion of assets under management and its wealth management business had assets under administration of $62 billion.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was co-led by Glen Hettinger (Dallas) and Daryl Lansdale (San Antonio) and included from its M&A team David Barrett (New York), Evan Hardee (Dallas), Madison Keeble (Austin), Roy Goldman (New York), David Hagen (Dallas), Ben Montanez (San Antonio), Gary McDaniel (San Antonio), Ryan Waggoner (New York), Chris Cash (New York), Leslie Teng (New York) and Nathan Ford (New York).

Additional legal support was provided by Alex Clark (Dallas) for benefits, Todd Schroeder (Dallas) for tax, Amanda Wait (Washington, DC) and Andy Eklund (Washington, DC) for antitrust/HSR, Stefan Reisinger (Washington, DC) for CFIUS, Josh Agrons (Houston) and Ryan Searfoorce (Houston) for finance, Steven Howard (New York) for regulatory, Glen Barrentine (Denver) for FINRA/regulatory, Carolyn Webb (Houston) for employment, Daniel Prati (Houston) for IP and Steve Nelson (New York) for real estate.