By Chris Glynn
Cresset Asset Management, a
private wealth manager headquartered in Chicago with $22 billion in assets under
management, has merged with $5.4 billion investment advisor Meristem Family
Wealth to create a $27 billion multi-family office, according
to a press release from owner Cresset Capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Meristem Family Wealth has 42
people on staff and is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Its Meristem
Trust Company, which is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will merge
under Cresset Asset Management, which had outsourced its trust company service.
The private wealth industry has
been in a merger deal market beginning in 2020, with Channel Islands Group’s
$270 million merger with Mariner Wealth Advisors and Canadian-based CI
Financial Corporation, with $130 billion AUM, merging with San
Francisco-based Portola Partners.
In addition to Meristem Family
Wealth, Cresset Asset Management itself acquired $4.8 billion Berman Capital
in June, following its 2020 deal for PagnatoKarp, a $2.5 billion
registered investment advisor based in Washington, D.C.
Cresset Asset Management is owned
by private capital firm Cresset Capital, founded by Eric Becker and Avy
Stein.