iCapital, the leading global fintech platform driving access and efficiency in alternative investing for the asset and wealth management industries, and SIMON Markets, the award-winning fintech company offering a digital platform designed to help financial advisors understand and manage structured investments, annuities, and other risk-managed products, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which iCapital will acquire SIMON.
Joining these companies will meaningfully enhance the alternative investing experience for advisors and their clients.
SIMON is a preeminent technology platform facilitating structured investments and annuity products with more than $48 billion of issuances in 2021. Through deeply embedded technology, SIMON delivers integrations across 50 plus product manufacturers and 50 plus wealth managers - including the largest IBDs, bank/regional broker dealers and private banks, and more than 100 RIAs, as well as platform access to more than 100,000 advisors. SIMON brings transparency to the industry, streamlines workflows for advisors, and creates scalable distribution for product manufacturers.
iCapital is the industry’s leading alternatives platform, servicing more than $125 billion in platform assets and employing more than 800 people globally. The deal will significantly expand iCapital’s investment menu, and augment its technical capabilities, education offerings and support services for wealth managers. SIMON offers an end-to-end digital suite of tools, on-demand education, robust marketplace, real-time data and analytics, and life-cycle management. Its platform also includes SIMON Spectrum, a multi-dimensional allocation analysis and portfolio construction tool designed to evaluate how structured investments and/or annuities may fit into a portfolio. The combined capabilities of these platforms will deliver a best-in-class experience for financial professionals.
“Today’s wealth management professionals seek a premium technology platform and access to a broader range of alternative investment strategies that provide thoughtful ways to diversify and potentially enhance long-term returns in client portfolios,” said Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of iCapital. “SIMON is a recognized leader in structured investments and annuities offering an exceptional user experience and a distribution network of impressive depth and breadth. We are thrilled to welcome the highly accomplished SIMON team to iCapital with whom we share a mission to expand access and efficiency of alternative investing across the industry. This acquisition provides our advisors with a much more robust platform and suite of tools to help them pursue successful investment outcomes for their clients.”
Under the agreement, Jason Broder, Chief Executive Officer of SIMON, will join iCapital as Managing Director, Head of iCapital Solutions and member of the Operating Committee. In this capacity, he will oversee the combined platform’s integration, market development, and sales of iCapital’s full suite of technology offerings. Additionally, iCapital will extend offers of employment to the nearly 200 SIMON team members.
“We have long-admired iCapital and everything it has accomplished in the alternative investing space,” said Mr. Broder. “After a highly collaborative exploratory process over recent months, it became abundantly clear that together we can create an unrivaled experience for our clients and set the stage for iCapital’s continued expansion of investment opportunities and support services for advisors. Together we’re delivering something the wealth management industry has wanted for a very long time - access to all alternative solutions under one, centralized platform.”
Engaging Advisors with Educational and Analytical Resources
Developing industry knowledge has been a priority for iCapital since its founding. iCapital provides the wealth management community with comprehensive research, education, and portfolio analytics tools to support advisors in understanding alternatives and incorporating them into their practices. iCapital offers AltsEdge, AI Insight and iCapital Portfolio Intelligence alongside a robust library of articles with insights on market trends, various asset classes within alternatives, the mechanics of private investing, emerging product strategies and practice management.
SIMON has been a leader in the development of educational resources and analytical tools to further financial advisors’ understanding of structured investments, annuities, target return ETFs, and alternative investment solutions, including digital assets. With the acquisition, SIMON’s advisor education and analytical resources - which includes SIMON Spectrum, as well as an extensive video collection with interactive product training and a dashboard to track advisor progress, product training for all levels, and custom compliance tracking - will further build out iCapital’s already robust education and analytics capabilities.
“Everything we do is about setting advisors up for success, and we are enormously excited to integrate the robust offerings of SIMON into the iCapital suite of analytical and educational resources providing a comprehensive resource to support advisor efforts to drive positive client outcomes,” said Mr. Calcano.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022 after the necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and UBS Investment Bank are serving as financial advisors to iCapital. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as the exclusive financial advisor to SIMON.