Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Corient, the US private wealth manager backed by Mubadala Capital, has agreed to purchase two UK rivals, Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital Group, in a move that continues a global trend for consolidation in the sector.
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will make Miami-based Corient the world’s largest non-bank wealth manager with about $430bn under management, doubling existing assets, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This combination of three storied firms creates a truly global wealth manager and multi-family office with formidable resources and deep expertise in serving the world’s wealthiest individuals and families,” said Kurt MacAlpine, partner and chief executive of Corient.
The sale comes as the wealth management industry continues a decade-long consolidation. The private equity owners of Evelyn Partners, one of the UK’s largest wealth managers, are planning to sell the business, the Financial Times reported last month.
Global wealth has grown rapidly in recent years, climbing from $70.2tn in 2017 to $90.5tn in 2024, according to consultants Capgemini, largely driven by North America and Asia-Pacific. Banks and wealth managers view the rich as a source of profitable, long-term relationships that encompass everything from investment management to family-office services.
Corient, which was founded in 2020 and focuses on the US, will expand into Europe, the Middle East and Africa with the deals for Stanhope and Stonehage, which are two of London’s biggest independent wealth management businesses.
The US business separately approached Stanhope and Stonehage in February, with initial meetings conducted at private members’ clubs 5 Hertford Street and Oswald’s. It then unveiled its plan to bring all three companies together in April.
Stonehage and Stanhope had made “two or three attempts at putting ourselves together in the last 10 years”, Daniel Pinto, Stanhope’s founder, told the Financial Times. But Stonehage’s ownership structure had made it too complicated, said Giuseppe Ciucci, executive chair of Stonehage Fleming, until Corient arrived.
Pinto said that it was becoming harder for independent wealth managers to provide all the services clients needed, such as helping run their family offices, and the industry was “moving in a direction where it’s not enough to be very good at investing.”
The enlarged firm would be on the lookout to acquire more boutique businesses, Pinto said, adding that “this is just the start, not just in the UK, but all over Europe”. Additional burdens from regulation and competition from other rolled-up wealth managers have been driving consolidation.
David Scott, managing director of family office Scott Capital Partners, said some clients might not approve of such consolidations.
“That would be the concern that some people would have — that if you’re part of a $400bn type of operation, am I going to get the level of personal service that I wanted from what was a small family office?”
The new company will operate as Corient following the deal and there will be some redundancies in the London businesses. Ciucci will become partner and chair, while Pinto will become chief executive of Corient’s international business.
Caledonia Investments, the London-listed investment trust, said it expected to receive about £288mn in cash, net of transaction expenses, from the sale of its 37 per cent stake in Stonehage Fleming.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.
