What happened
Shares of Envestnet (ENV) jumped 13.3% last month, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, due in part to rumors that the financial technology company might be an acquisition target.
So what
Speculation about a potential sale began soon after the tragic death of co-founder and CEO Jud Bergman in a car accident in October. Bergman was succeeded by Envestnet's co-founder and president, Bill Crager, who took over as interim CEO.
Rumors of a sale intensified in January when investment management titan BlackRock and private equity firms Blackstone and KKR were identified in news reports as possible suitors. Any acquisition deal would likely need to include a large premium to Envestnet's current trading price, in order to entice shareholders to tender their shares.
Multiple companies are reportedly considering an acquisition of Envestnet. Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
The reports also speculated that rather than selling itself to a larger company, Envestnet could instead choose to sell its Yodlee business. The account aggregation service provider is similar in some ways to Plaid, which Visa recently purchased for $5.3 billion. In turn, it's believed that Yodlee could fetch as much as $2 billion from Visa rival Mastercard.
Such a deal would likely be a boon for investors, as a potential $2 billion valuation for Yodlee is not currently reflected in Envestnet's $4.3 billion market cap.
