Genstar Capital, the private equity owner of Mercer Advisors, Cetera Financial Group and Orion Advisor Solutions, has agreed to buy a majority stake in Foreside Financial Group, a compliance consulting firm to the global asset and wealth management industry, from private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners. Terms of the deal, expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed.
Portland, Maine–based Foreside, which provides mutual fund distribution and compliance consulting for broker/dealers and investment advisors, has grown significantly over the years through acquisition. In early 2019, the firm announced it would acquire NCS Regulatory Compliance, which provides outsourced compliance and regulatory services to RIAs and broker/dealers. In October 2019, it announced its acquisition of Compliance Advisory Services, an Atlanta-based compliance consulting firm focused on the broker/dealer space.
Since then, the firm has acquired Quasar Distributors, U.S. Bancorp’s mutual fund and ETFs distribution business; ICSGroup, a regulatory compliance services firm serving asset managers; Capital Markets Compliance, a compliance, consulting and FINOP practice; JG Advisory Services, a regulatory solutions provider for hedge and private equity funds; and Golden Bear Consulting Group, a boutique regulatory compliance consulting firm for alternative asset managers. And most recently, Foreside acquired Hardin Compliance Consulting, which serves RIAs, hedge funds, broker/dealers and mutual funds.
Foreside will continue to be led by CEO Richard Berthy and President David Whitaker, who will remain shareholders in the company.
“Genstar has extensive experience in the investment management space, and we’re excited to be starting this new chapter with them,” said Berthy, in a statement. “We share a strategic vision to broaden our current scope of products and services, underscored by the belief that there remains a significant need for outsourced fund and GRC [governance, risk and compliance] services in the market.”
Lovell Minnick invested in Foreside in May 2017.