Piper Sandler agrees to buy smaller rival Aviditi Advisors

(Reuters) – Investment banking firm Piper Sandler said on Thursday, it had agreed to buy smaller rival Aviditi Advisors, helping it expand in the lucrative market for private equity deals.

The firm will be housed within Piper Sandler’s investment banking platform, Piper said, without disclosing the financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close towards the latter half of the third quarter.

Aviditi, which was founded in 2020, primarily caters to large PE firms and global alternative investment managers, and has advised on over $30 billion in transactions.

Aviditi co-founders Ryan Schlitt and John Robertshaw will be named Piper Sandler’s head of private capital advisory and vice chairman of private capital advisory, respectively.