Pathstone absorbs $12B Philadelphia RIA Mill Creek Capital

Pathstone, the Englewood, New Jersey-based ultra-high-net-worth advisory firm, has completed its combination with Mill Creek Capital Advisors.

Mill Creek is a Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based independent registered investment advisor overseeing nearly $12 billion in client assets across approximately 450 families and institutions.

The deal to merge with Pathstone creates one of the largest independent RIA footprints in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and establishes a combined organization of more than 120 professionals advising on close to $30 billion in assets. That specific operation is split between two Pennsylvania offices: Mill Creek's Conshohocken headquarters and Pathstone's existing location in Newtown Square.

A deal years in the making

Founded in 2006 by Joshua Gross and Richard Stevens, Mill Creek has built a reputation serving ultra-high-net-worth families, endowments, and foundations from the Philadelphia suburbs. Gross, who served as chief executive officer of Mill Creek and will continue in a leadership role within the combined firm, said the cultural alignment between the two organizations was decisive.

"From our earliest conversations, it was clear that Pathstone and Mill Creek shared a common view of what matters most: serving clients with depth, care, objectivity, and continuity," Gross said.

Despite the firms having crossed paths professionally for years, their formal merger discussions only began last summer. Both sides saw a shared philosophy around client experience and employee ownership, which feature prominently in Pathstone's growth model.

Learn more: Pathstone CEO weighs in on the next phase of the wealth management cycle

Matt Fleissig, chief executive officer of Pathstone, said the acquisition deepens the firm's commitment to Philadelphia, one of the country's wealthiest metropolitan corridors.

"Coming together strengthens our ability to serve ultra-high-net-worth families, single family offices, and institutions with the personalized, differentiated advice they expect from Pathstone," Fleissig said.

Among Mill Creek's senior leadership bench, CIO Michael Crook previously headed the Investment Strategy team at UBS and held roles at Lehman Brothers and Barclays. Richard Lunsford Jr. serves as president and CFO, while Stephen Waltrich leads operations as chief operating officer.

The firm's partner group includes seasoned practitioners from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Vanguard, and Morgan Stanley.

Pathstone's ultra-high-net-worth expansion playbook

The Mill Creek combination is the latest in a string of acquisitions that have transformed Pathstone from a regional multifamily office into one of the largest independent advisory firms serving ultra-high-net-worth clients in the country.

In early 2024, Pathstone acquired Crestone Capital, a Boulder, Colorado-based wealth manager overseeing approximately $3 billion.

Later that same year,  it announced the acquisition of Hall Capital Partners, a San Francisco- and New York-based advisory firm founded in 1994. Representing roughly $45 billion across more than 130 clients, that has been its most consequential deal to date, pushing it up to $160 billion in AUM whie expanding its national footprint to more than 23 offices.

Prior to that, the firm saw a landmark combination with Veritable, a $17 billion multifamily office formerly owned by Affiliated Managers Group.

Private equity as the engine of scale

Pathstone's acquisition pace has been underwritten by two private equity firms. Lovell Minnick Partners, a Philadelphia-based financial services-focused PE firm, made its first significant investment in Pathstone in 2019, when it had $15 billion in assets and seven US locations.

Read more: Dynasty Financial firm Americana Partners gets backing from Lovell Minnick Partners

In March 2023, Kelso & Company, a New York-based middle-market private equity firm, acquired a minority stake in Pathstone alongside a continued capital commitment from Lovell Minnick. At the time of that round, Pathstone was managing more than $80 billion in assets across 17 offices with more than 350 employees, more than 180 of whom were shareholders.

Both Kelso and Lovell Minnick contributed additional capital to support the Hall Capital acquisition in October 2024, reflecting a continued conviction in Pathstone's consolidation strategy.