Cerity Partners merges with UHNW-focused AJ Wealth

Cerity Partners has announced a merger with AJ Wealth, a leading New York wealth manager that focuses on investment management for ultra-high-net-worth families.

AJ Wealth will merge with Cerity, bringing together two firms with a strong pedigree in the UNHW space. It’s another major deal for Cerity following its tie-up earlier this year with ARGI, an asset management firm headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

New York City-based AJ Wealth, a registered investment advisor specializing in providing family office services to ultra-high-net-worth clients, was founded in 2012 by two former managers from Goldman Sachs’ family office unit, Andrew Cooper and Justyn Volesko.

Since founding their firm, the duo has honed their offering to family offices of some of the wealthiest families, with a specialty in complex estate and tax planning issues for clients with carried interests in their firm's investment funds.

"Our clients have complex financial situations and are looking for someone to oversee their entire financial picture,” Cooper said in a statement. “Our experience matched with Cerity Partners' wide range of services and investment capabilities will help make this partnership very successful for our clients and firm. 

By joining forces with Cerity, which manages around $65 billion for high-net-worth clients and nonprofits across the U.S., AJ Wealth will add scale to its services and share its expertise with the larger firm’s expanding client base.

Mercer Global Advisors announced another major M&A deal in the RIA space this week with its acquisition of Georgia-based Day & Ennis.

ACCELERATING GROWTH

Kurt Miscinski, Cerity Partners president and CEO, said the deal will accelerate his firm’s growth in working with wealthy families thanks to AJ Wealth’s offering.

“Their highly customized family office service is unique in our industry,” Miscinski said. “Our merger allows us to broaden the depth of our service offering and will accelerate our firm's growth in an important and expanding client segment. Furthermore, our new colleagues' experience working with partners and founders of hedge fund, private equity, and venture capital firms will deepen our expertise and leadership in serving these clients."

As part of the merger, two new leadership positions have been created for Cooper and Volesko.

"Merging with Cerity Partners will enable us to better serve our existing clients and further enhance a leading family office solution for new clients. We are also excited to leverage our expertise in complex planning for partners of hedge fund, private equity, and venture capital firms," Volesko said.

Recently, Advisor Growth Strategies’ principal Brandon Kawal said that M&A must be about more than money, urging integration rather than aggregation.