Davis Polk & Wardwell has advised Huatai Securities on a $780 million deal with private equity firms Genstar Capital and Aquiline Capital Partners to purchase U.S. financial technology company AssetMark Financial Holdings, which tapped New York-based firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher and JunHe for legal counsel.
The Nanjing-headquartered brokerage firm, China’s seventh-largest by market value, made the acquisition through its unit, Huatai International Finance. The subsidiary is expected to get investment-advisory services and portfolio-management capabilities in the U.S. through the buyout.
The Davis Polk deal team is led by partners John D. Amorosi, Howard Zhang, Annette L. Nazareth and Gregory S. Rowland. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Poss and Manuel Miranda are overseeing the transaction for Willkie, supported by fellow partners Jordan Messinger, Eugene Chang, David Drewes, Christopher Peters, Anthony Carbone and David Katz.
The acquisition, slated to close by the end of this year, is the first U.S. investment for Huatai. It will also allow Genstar and Aquiline to exit AssetMark about three years after they acquired it from Genworth Financial for around $412.5 million.
Based in Concord, California, AssetMark provides innovative asset management software to investment managers, brokers dealers and investors, which collectively handle more than $28.5 billion on its platforms. After the deal, it will remain an independently operated business managed by the same leadership team.