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Seward & Kissel’s Asset and Wealth Management practice draws upon the Firm’s strong deep-rooted expertise in financial services to provide comprehensive legal counsel to a broad spectrum of clients. These include independent wealth managers, SEC- and state-registered investment advisers, bank-affiliated wirehouses, full-service and limited purpose broker-dealers, private investment funds, and other financial services firms on a full range of services. We advise on a full suite of matters, including:

  • Investment and fund management
  • Employment
  • Tax and transactional matters
  • Regulatory matters
  • Compliance
  • Examination, enforcement and litigation matters
  • Mergers & Acquisitions, majority and minority stake transactions and joint ventures
  • Other corporate matters

Our team includes former senior officials from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Department of Justice.  The breadth of experience allows us to deliver practical, informed, and strategic advice tailored to our clients’ specific needs.  A key driver of our success is our unwavering commitment to the principle of “knowing your business,” which enables to provide bespoke strategic solutions for our clients. 

In addition, the Firm also regularly advises wealth managers, registered investment advisers, broker-dealers and other participants in the industry on a wide variety of buy- and sell-side transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, majority and minority stake sale transactions, and joint ventures.

Representative Matters

Representative transactions in the industry include:

  • Represented AlTi Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTI) in connection with its acquisition of Envoi, a leading family office focused on multi-generational family wealth with assets under management of approximately $3.0 billion and East End Advisors, an OCIO with AUM of approximately $5.6 billion offering customized portfolio management and investment services to UHNW families and foundations.
  • Represented Source Financial Advisors, LLC, a New York, NY-based boutique RIA with $536 million in assets under management that primarily serves high-net-worth women who have experienced or are navigating divorce, in connection with its sale to Savant Wealth Management, a leading independent, nationally recognized, fee-only firm serving clients for over 30 years with approximately $28.6 billion in assets under management and $1.2 billion in assets under advisement.
  • Represented Dyson Capital Advisors, a registered investment adviser managing over $3.5 billion in assets under management that serves select clients with investment advice, customized family office services, and high-touch administrative services, in connection with its sale to Pathstone, a partner-owned and private equity–backed registered investment advisory firm providing investment advice and family office services on more than $35 billion in client assets for families, foundations and endowments.
  • Represented Kudu Investment Management, a provider of permanent capital solutions to the asset and wealth management industries, in connection with its minority stake investments in Champlain Investment Partners, Douglas Winthrop Advisors, Bingham Osborn and Scarborough, GenTrust, LLC and First Long Island Investors, LLC.
  • Represented iM Global Partner, a worldwide asset management network, in connection with its acquisition of Litman Gregory, a San Francisco-based wealth and asset management services firm, and thereafter on several acquisitions of wealth managers by Litman Gregory.
  • Represented the Eaton Vance management team in connection with the sale by Morgan Stanley of approximately $14 billion of the client assets of registered investment adviser Eaton Vance Investment Counsel to Corient. 
  • Represented FWM Holdings, the parent company of Forbes Family Trust, LGL Partners and Optima Fund Management, in connection with its merger with Stanhope Capital Group, creating one of the world’s largest independent wealth management and advisory firms.
  • Represented Emigrant Partners, a subsidiary of New York Private Bank & Trust, in connection with its minority investments in wealth managers Autus Asset Management, Gerber Taylor Capital Advisors, NorthRock Partners, Parallel Advisors, Pure Financial Advisors and Stratos Wealth Holdings.
  • Represented The Investment Center, a broker-dealer and registered investment adviser platform with 240 independent financial advisors in offices across the country, in connection with its sale to LPL Financial (Nasdaq:LPLA), a leading broker-dealer platform serving more than 23,000 financial advisors nationwide.