PNC will acquire Aqueduct Capital Group, a broker-dealer focused on raising capital for private equity and private credit, the Pittsburgh-based bank said Tuesday.
The deal is expected to close in midsummer, the companies said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“This acquisition is complementary to existing capital advisory capabilities provided through PNC’s subsidiary Harris Williams and will enable us to expand our ability to serve the global capital needs of the private equity industry,” Michael Thomas, PNC’s head of corporate and institutional banking, said in a statement Tuesday.
PNC bought investment bank Harris Williams in 2005 to provide merger-and-acquisition advisory capabilities for middle-market companies. Since then, the super-regional bank has added several pieces: It bought initial public offering consultant Solebury Capital in 2014, then Ambassador Financial Group in 2019. The latter served as a broker-dealer that specialized in balance sheet management but also provided investment banking and capital markets services.
PNC has purchased placement agents like Aqueduct before. It bought Sixpoint Partners in 2019, then merged it into Harris Williams in 2023.
John Neuner, co-CEO of Harris Williams, emphasized the “minimal overlap” between the client base of the investment bank and Aqueduct, adding that Tuesday’s agreement “increases the ability to serve a broader range of clients.”
Steve Lessing, a partner with Aqueduct, called the deal “a tremendous opportunity to tap into our collective relationships and enable clients to diversify their investor base across North America, Australia, Europe and Asia.”
Largely mirroring the PNC executives’ quotes, analyst Gerard Cassidy of RBC Capital Markets noted the “complement” the Aqueduct deal will bring to existing Harris Williams business but said “the bottom line impact … is not expected to be material, in our opinion,” according to a research note.
