Lightyear completes RidgeWorth Investments buyout at $265m

Employees of RidgeWorth Investments in partnership with Lightyear Capital have completed the acquisition of RidgeWorth Investments from SunTrust Banks for $265 million. The deal will create an independent investment firm with significant equity ownership by RidgeWorth employees.

Lightyear Capital will invest in RidgeWorth through Lightyear Fund III. Fund III closed in August 2012 on $954 million, beating its target of $800 million but not quite clearing its $1.1 billion hard-cap, according to Private Equity International’s research and analytics division. The company is believed to be considering a new fund launch in 2015, that fund’s target will be similar in size to Fund III.

RidgeWorth is a multi-boutique asset management firm with $50.1 billion in equity and fixed income assets under management.  The company was an affiliate of SunTrust, and will now pursue growth across five investment boutiques in fixed income and equities.

“This deal optimally aligns the interests of all of our stakeholders, including clients, intermediary partners, employees and investors with deep industry experience, such as Lightyear,” said RidgeWorth CEO and chief investment officer Ashi S. Parikh in a statement.

RidgeWorth’s wholly owned boutiques include Ceredex Value Advisors, Certium Asset Management, Seix Investment Advisors and Silvant Capital Management. The company also maintains a minority ownership stake in Zevenbergen Capital Investments.