Back in 1898, John Nuveen started the firm Nuveen Investments (NYSE: JNC) to trade municipal bonds. It was a smart move. Now, the firm is a big player in the asset management space, with about $165 billion in assets under management.Well, soon Nuveen will no longer be a public company. It announced today that private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC has agreed to a $5.42 billion buyout.
Interestingly enough, Nuveen wants to do the transaction so as to have more flexibility in pursuing its long-term growth goals. After all, it can be distracting to deal with the mind-numbing regulations of Sarbanes-Oxley and also the quarter-by-quarter pressures of Wall Street analysts.
No doubt, Nuveen's business is growing nicely. In fiscal Q1, net income increased 17% to $52.3 million.
On the news of the deal, shares of Nuveen spiked 17.15% to $63.45. The current buyout bid is $65.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
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