VIRTUS INVESTMENT PARTNERS INC

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the shareholders and the Board of Directors of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flow, for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures to respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Valuation of Contingent Consideration – Refer to Notes 2 and 7 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company periodically enters into contingent payment arrangements in connection with its business combinations or asset acquisitions.

Contingent payment obligations related to business combinations are recorded at fair value upon acquisition and are remeasured at fair value each reporting date. During the year, the contingent payment obligations associated with the 2021 acquisitions of NFJ Investment Group (“NFJ”) and Westchester Capital Management (“Westchester”) were valued to reflect remeasurement and payments made, if applicable, and changes were recorded in the current period as a change in fair value of contingent consideration on the consolidated statements of operations. Management uses simulation models to determine the fair value of the Company's estimated contingent liability given the variable nature of the arrangements and the significant management judgments in estimating revenue growth rates, discount rates, and the market price of risk adjustment.

Contingent payment obligations related to asset acquisitions, if estimable and probable of payment, are initially recorded at their estimated value and reviewed every reporting period for changes. During the year, the contingent payment obligations associated with the 2021 asset acquisition as part of the strategic partnership with Allianz Global Investors (“AllianzGI”) was valued to reflect remeasurement and payments made, if applicable, and changes were recorded in the current period as adjustments to the initial acquisition cost, recorded as intangible assets, on the consolidated balance sheet.

The valuations of the AllianzGI, NFJ and Westchester contingent payment obligations use unobservable inputs and reflect management’s own judgments about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the liabilities. Auditing the estimates involved a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased extent of effort. With the assistance of our internal fair value specialists, for the fair value of the business combination contingent consideration, we evaluated management’s judgments utilized within the simulation model related to revenue growth rates, discount rates, and the market price of risk adjustment.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to the valuation of the contingent consideration liability for the AllianzGI, NFJ and Westchester acquisitions included the following, among others:

•We tested the design and operating effectiveness of controls over management’s valuation of the contingent consideration liability.

•We held discussions with accounting personnel and management regarding the revenue projections utilized in the valuation models. We evaluated whether the business assumptions used were appropriate and reasonable and confirmed that the products included in the revenue projections utilized in the valuation models agreed to those within the respective acquisition agreements.

•For the AllianzGI acquisition, we evaluated the methodology used to calculate the estimated value of the contingent payment obligations to confirm it was appropriate for an asset acquisition and confirmed that the amounts recorded were based on the revenue projections and the contractual payment rate. We further evaluated whether the business assumptions used were appropriate and reasonable.

•With the assistance of our internal fair value specialists, we performed the below procedures related to the NFJ and Westchester contingent consideration liability:

–We evaluated the valuation methodology used by management to determine whether they were consistent with generally accepted accounting policies.

–We estimated the fair value of the contingent liability through the preparation of independent simulation models developed from the underlying acquisition agreements and using independently sourced input data. We compared the fair value estimate produced by our independent model to the model prepared by management.

–We evaluated the appropriateness of management’s selection of guideline public companies used for market rate and risk volatility assumptions and the discount rates used by management in the simulation model.

•We evaluated whether the assumptions used were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit.

Consolidation — Consolidation of Investment Products – Refer to Notes 2 and 19 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company is required to consolidate investment products to which it provides investment management services when it (1) has a majority voting interest in an investment product that is a voting interest entity (VOE) or otherwise has the power to govern the financial and operating policies of the entity; or (2) it is considered the primary beneficiary of an investment product that is a variable interest entity (VIE). Management is required to evaluate whether an investment product is a VOE or a VIE upon its initial involvement with the investment product, or the occurrence of a reconsideration event. This assessment involves management’s judgment and is determined based on a variety of factors including the capital structure of the investment product, the investment product’s activities, the equity investment at risk, and the proportionate voting and economic interests of the investors in the investment product including the Company.

For each investment product that is considered a VIE, management performs a primary beneficiary analysis to determine if it holds a controlling financial interest in the investment product. A controlling financial interest is defined as (a) the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the VIE's economic performance and (b) the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE. Management’s evaluation of these two criteria involves judgments to analyze the governing documents of the investment product. The level of judgment required may vary in significance based on the complexity of the voting rights and structure economic interests of the investment product and the facts and circumstances of the Company’s investment. This required a high degree of auditor judgment and an increased extent of effort to evaluate management’s conclusions related to the power criterion and the economics criterion, including characterizing rights as protective or participating and evaluating all variable interests for the potential significance of economic exposure in the entity.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to testing the consolidation assessment of VIEs included the following, among others:

•We tested the design and operating effectiveness of controls over management’s review of the consolidation analysis of new or modified investment products during the year.

•We read and analyzed the governing documents (including the collateral management agreement, preference share subscription agreement and credit agreement, if applicable) of each investment product to assess management’s conclusions. Our procedures included evaluating the following:

–Key facts included in management’s consolidation analysis are consistent with the governing documents and the Company’s interests in the investment products;

–Relevant terms impacting the consolidation analysis under GAAP were considered including the evaluation of whether the investment product is a VOE or VIE;

–Judgments made by management based on the capital structure of the investment product, the investment product’s activities, the equity investment at risk, and the proportionate voting and economic interests of the investors in the investment product including the Company were appropriate;

–The determined primary beneficiary of those investment products possesses both (1) the power to direct activities of the VIE and (2) the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from the VIE.

/s/DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

Hartford, Connecticut

February 28, 2025

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2018.