Religare buys majority stake in Landmark

Religare, an Indian financial services company, has agreed to pay up to $171.5 million to buy a 55 percent stake in secondaries firm Landmark Partners.

Landmark’s management team has made “long-term commitments” to the business and will continue to run daily operations and be responsible for all investment decisions, Religare and Landmark said in a statement. The firm’s managers will retain a substantial equity stake in the business, according to the statement.

Landmark earlier this year closed its 14th secondaries fund reportedly on about $1.9 billion.

The Landmark deal marks the second major private equity purchase the firm has made since commencing its plan to spend $1 billion on investments in asset management businesses. The target amount includes firms outside of private equity.

Earlier this year, Religare bought a majority stake in fund of funds Northgate Capital. Under that deal, Northgate’s five partners retained a controlling interest in the fund of fund’s general partner entities and a significant stake in the fund management company.

At the time, Religare and Northgate said the fund of funds would see no changes to its management team, investment staff, investment committee and investment strategy.