TIAA-CREF to buy Nuveen Investments in $6.25-billion deal

TIAA-CREF, one of the largest money managers in the country, on Monday said it had agreed to acquire Nuveen Investments in a deal valuing Nuveen at $6.25 billion.

Nuveen is being sold by Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, which bought the firm in 2007 for $5.75 billion in one of the largest leveraged buyout deals in the asset-management industry.

The deal’s $6.25-billion total price tag includes debt owed by Nuveen that would be assumed by TIAA-CREF.

The addition of Nuveen’s $221 billion in assets under management would bring the total value of assets managed by TIAA-CREF to about $800 billion, according to TIAA-CREF, which manages retirement funds for employees of educational and nonprofit institutions.

“For nearly a hundred years, we have been wise financial stewards for those who make a difference in the world in the academic and nonprofit communities,” Roger W. Ferguson Jr., TIAA-CREF’s chief executive, said in a statement released by the compnay. “The acquisition of Nuveen can generate greater returns that will benefit our customers.”

TIAA-CREF said Nuveen would be operated as a subsidiary and that John Amboian would stay on as Nuveen’s chief executive.

The boards of TIAA-CREF and Nuveen have each voted to approve the deal, TIAA-CREF said. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.