TIAA-CREF to buy Nuveen from Madison Dearborn

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Target: Nuveen Investments

Price: $6.25 billion

Buyer: TIAA-CREF

Sponsor: Madison Dearborn Partners LLC

Financial Advisers: Buyer: Lazard Ltd, JPMorgan Securities LLC; Target: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets; Target Management Team: UBS Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs & Co, Moelis & Co

The deal will add more than $221 billion in assets to TIAA-CREF’s roughly $569 billion in assets under management, broadening its portfolio with closed-end municipal bond funds which offer regular, annuity-type payouts, sister news service Reuters reported.

It also offers relief to Nuveen’s current owner, private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC. Madison Dearborn will break even on the deal, according to a person close to the firm, having taken Nuveen private in 2007 for $5.8 billion and saddled it with debt that weighed on its earnings.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, pending approval from existing Nuveen clients and antitrust regulators.

Lazard Ltd and JPMorgan Securities LLC advised TIAA-CREF. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities LLC and Citigroup Global Markets acted as financial advisers to Nuveen Investments. UBS Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs & Co and Moelis & Co acted as financial advisers to the Nuveen management team.

Greg Roumeliotis is a correspondent for Reuters in New York.