Chicago-based Arete Wealth, Inc. has moved to formalize its capital markets ambitions, launching a standalone investment banking division and tapping a two-decade veteran of the sector to run it.
The new unit, Arete Capital Partners, will operate as a dedicated division within the firm's existing platform and provide advisory and capital formation services across a range of transaction types from initial public offerings and private placements to mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring.
The announcement marks a significant strategic shift for a firm historically known as an independent broker-dealer and alternative investment specialist.
Heading the division is Renny Kuruvilla, a capital markets executive whose résumé spans senior leadership posts at B. Riley Securities, Newbridge Securities Corporation, NOBLE Capital Markets, IFS Securities, Euro Pacific Capital, and Roth Capital Partners. He most recently served as managing director at Newbridge Securities and previously spent four years as managing director of investment banking at B. Riley Securities.
The launch signals Arete's intention to compete more directly in middle-market corporate finance, a space traditionally dominated by regional and boutique investment banks.
While the firm has historically offered select investment banking services on an ad hoc basis, Arete Capital Partners creates a permanent infrastructure with dedicated resources and leadership.
David Levine, CEO of Arete Wealth, described the move as a natural extension of the firm's existing platform.
"We have built a financial services platform focused on providing investors with access to compelling investment opportunities via curated relationships with best in class sponsors and issuers," Levine said. "Establishing a dedicated investment banking division under Renny's leadership expands Arete's corporate finance and capital formation capabilities while creating new and differentiated investment opportunities for our investors."
The firm, which manages more than $8 billion in assets, operates a diversified platform spanning its broker-dealer, registered investment advisory business, alternative investment offerings, and a national network of financial professionals, a structure that Levine and Kuruvilla say gives the new division a structural edge over standalone investment banks.
Arete Capital Partners will serve growth-oriented companies, private businesses, financial sponsors, and institutional clients.
Its mandate covers four broad areas: public capital markets transactions including IPOs and follow-on offerings; private placements, debt financing, and convertible securities; buy-side and sell-side M&A advisory; and strategic corporate advisory work such as capital structure optimization and valuation.
The division's sector focus spans technology, healthcare, financial services, real estate, consumer, industrials, energy, business services, alternative asset management, and specialty finance; a broad mandate that reflects the firm's existing reach across alternative investment categories.
"Companies today need more than just access to capital," Kuruvilla said. "They need experienced partners who understand how capital strategy, transaction structure and long-term growth fit together. Arete has built a unique platform from which we can provide senior-level investment banking expertise while drawing upon a much broader financial services ecosystem."
Also announced September 10, Lazard, Inc. said it had hired Daniel Burton-Morgan as managing director and head of equity capital markets advisory, North America, a newly created role within the firm's Strategic Capital Solutions Group, based in New York. Burton-Morgan previously served as head of Americas ECM financial sponsor origination at Bank of America.
The two firms operate at very different ends of the market - Lazard is a globally established financial advisory firm, Arete Wealth an independent broker-dealer - but the parallel timing speaks to a broader industry conviction that dedicated ECM advisory infrastructure is worth building or formalizing right now, with deal pipelines and IPO activity expected to remain active through 2026.
Earlier this year, RBC Capital Markets said is was expanding its US operations significantly with plans to hire around 600 advisors in its wealth management business but also “adding across the board” in its US investment banking division.
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