Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NYSE: VRTS), which operates a multi-manager asset management business, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Keystone National Group, an investment manager specializing in asset-centric private credit and a pioneer in providing such strategies to the wealth channel. The transaction expands Virtus’ offerings into private markets with the “addition of a differentiated asset-backed lending capability.”
Established back in 2006, Keystone has more than 20 years of experience managing private credit assets, offering differentiated “exposure to private markets primarily through its diversified asset-backed lending strategies, which include equipment finance, real estate finance, financial assets, and asset-backed corporate loans.”
Since inception, Keystone, which managed $2.5 billion as of Oct 31, 2025, has deployed over “$6 billion of capital in more than 750 transactions.”
Keystone’s differentiated strategies are implemented in its $2.0 billion flagship tender offer fund, Keystone Private Income Fund (KPIF), which “has support from leading wealth managers as a result of its stable and consistent investment performance relative to other private credit funds and income-oriented funds more broadly.”
In addition, Keystone also manages two private REITs “specializing in real estate bridge lending and real estate equity.”
Under the Agreement, Virtus would purchase a “majority interest in Keystone for consideration of $200 million at closing and up to an additional $170 million of deferred consideration, including earnout payments subject to the achievement of future revenue targets.”
Virtus expects to finance the transaction using “existing balance sheet resources.”
Keystone’s management team will retain “meaningful equity in Keystone and the managing partners will enter into long-term employment agreements.”
As a Virtus investment manager, Keystone will retain “autonomy over its investment process and day-to-day activities, as well as preserve its culture and brand identity.”
The transaction is expected to “close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the KPIF fund board and fund shareholders, and is expected to be accretive to earnings in 2026.”
RBC Capital Markets served as financial advisor and Goodwin Procter LLP was the legal advisor to Virtus on the transaction.
BofA Securities served as financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP was the legal advisor to Keystone National Group.
Founded in 2006, Keystone National Group is a private credit investment firm focused on asset-backed credit across a “variety of industries and asset types, including equipment finance, specialty real estate lending, consumer finance, and corporate lending.”
Keystone is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and “has approximately 40 employees.”
As noted in the update, Virtus Investment Partners is a partnership of boutique investment managers “singularly committed to the long-term success of individual and institutional investors.”
They provide products and services from their investment managers, each with a “distinct investment style and autonomous investment process, as well as select subadvisers.”
Investment solutions are reportedly offered across “multiple disciplines and product types to meet a wide array of investor needs.”