Lebenthal lands $600 million BNY Mellon team

Lebenthal Holdings is continuing its push into the wealth management space with the addition of a $600 million duo to its up-and-coming investment advice unit, Lebenthal Wealth Advisors. The addition of Brendan Goldstein and William Patterson, joining from BNY Mellon's private bank, will put Lebenthal Wealth, a hybrid registered investment adviser, over $2 billion in assets under management and closer to its stated goal of $5 billion in AUM by the end of the year. The firm is hoping to eventually grow its wealth unit to $20 billion in assets, according to Alexandra Lebenthal, chief executive and president of Lebenthal Holdings, and granddaughter of the company founder. A spokeswoman for BNY Mellon's wealth management unit, Susan Rivers, confirmed that Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Patterson had left the firm, but declined to comment further. An initial public offering for Lebenthal Holdings could happen in five years if growth continues as planned, the chairman of the wealth unit, Frank L. Campanale, said in an interview. Lebenthal Holdings is a storied Wall Street investment banking and capital markets firm whose history dates back to 1925. The wealth management arm, however, is relatively new. It began in January this year with former Smith Barney executives Frank Campanale and Andrew Grillo at the helm. The firm made a splash in March with the addition of a former Morgan Stanley duo with $1.2 billion in assets. All the hires so far have joined as W-2 employees of Lebenthal. Advisers receive some transition money and an equity stake in Lebenthal Holdings. Lebenthal Wealth is also hoping to launch a franchisee channel, whereby advisers can pay to use the firm's name but still maintain full equity in their own firm. Mr. Campanale said the firm is expecting to make its first addition into the channel in the next month or two. The franchisee channel targets investment adviser firms with between $400 million and $600 million in assets who are looking to grow to $1 billion or more, he said.