TA Associates acquires Orion Advisor Services in NorthStar deal

Boston-based private equity firm TA Associates announced on Monday that it is acquiring majority interest in NorthStar Financial Services and its nine subsidiary providers, including Orion Advisor Services. NorthStar, with $275 billion in assets under management and more than 650 employees, has a variety of companies with services to help financial advisers, including: Gemini Fund Services, which provides mutual fund administration and pooled investment solutions; Orion Advisor Services, which provides software as a service and portfolio accounting services to registered investment advisers; and CLS Investments, an exchange-traded funds strategist. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition could lead to more deal making in the months ahead. "We're looking to do some acquisitions in the future across multiple industries because of how diverse the subsidiaries are," said Todd Clarke, chief executive officer of CLS, of what NorthStar will do with the infusion of funds. For CLS, that means looking for another ETF strategist. Orion is also looking forward to future deals. "We're going to be looking for tech companies to dot some i's and cross some t's on our existing platform — things that our advisers are looking for us to accomplish," Eric Clarke, chief executive officer of Orion, said. "For us it really allows us to be on a level playing field with our publicly traded competitors." This isn't the first acquisition for TA Associates with a technology-rich addition. Last year the firm acquired Idera, an application and server management software company. “They have a lot of experience,” Andrew Rogers, chief executive of Gemini Fund Services, said. “We worked really hard to build a great company over the years. We think ... [TA Associates'] expertise in financial services and ability to access capital will transform us from being a great small company to hopefully a great midsize company.”