Rare sighting: Publicly traded RIA coming

Ric Edelman said it couldn't be done. But Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC is set to test the waters as the sole pure-play, publicly traded wealth management firm Silvercrest plans to raise $62 million in its upcoming initial public offering by selling 4.8 million shares at $12 to $14, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The New York-based firm will be traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SAMG. No official date was given for the IPO in the SEC filing. With the company currently in its quiet period, a spokesman for Silvercrest declined to comment. Silvercrest manages approximately $13.6 billion in assets, making it the fourth largest registered investment advisory firm, according to InvestmentNews' RIA Data Center. The firm focuses on serving ultrahigh-net-worth individuals and families with more than $10 million of assets, according to the SEC filing. The accounts of the 50 largest clients average $196 million. Silvercrest may have its work cut out for as a publicly traded outfit — at least going by what happened to the last publicly traded pure-play wealth management firm. In 2005, Edelman Financial Group Inc. was acquired by a public company. The firm was rebranded as Edelman Financial in 2010. But Mr. Edelman took the firm private less than two years later under the Edelman name. "Companies of our size really have no business being public, especially in the financial sector," which is dominated by big firms,” Mr. Edelman told InvestmentNews last spring .