A private equity company is betting on a $7 billion-AUM ETF strategist, as planned. The asset manager is going through a leadership change at the very top.

Yesterday, Dave Odenath (operating partner at Altamont Capital Partners), Keoni Schwartz (managing director with Altamont), and Sam Gaynor (managing director with Altamont), confirmed that Altamont has made a strategic investment in Charlotte, North Carolina-based Horizon Investments, LLC [profile]. (The deal was first unveiled back in September.) Altamont is now the majority owner of Horizon.

Meanwhile, also as planned, Robbie Cannon, founder and CEO of Horizon, is becoming a strategic advisor to the firm and handing the reins to president John Drahzal, who now serves as CEO. (Horizon's CIO, CFO, and GC and CCO are all staying put.) Meanwhile, Odenath is joining Horizon's board of directors as executive chairman.

BMO Capital Markets advised Horizon on the deal. The terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed.

Drahzal describes Altamont as "a tremendous match" for Horizon and hints that the deal will help take Horizon "to the next level." Odenath, for his part, praises the Horizon leadership team.

"Their efforts will form the core of a strategy that will leverage new distribution approaches to bring Horizon's goals-based investment framework to a much larger marketplace," Odenath states.

"This is just the beginning of a larger, multi-step investment and distribution-driven plan that will accelerate the expansion of Horizon's reach and the advisor community's understanding and usage of goals-based approaches," Schwartz states.

Gaynor hints at Horizon M&A down the line.

"We are actively looking at additional acquisitions to the platform to further expand Horizon's capabilities and offerings," Gaynor states. 

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