Sequoia Financial to Buy $5B Multi-Office Firm
The acquisition of Zeke Capital Advisors will make Sequoia a wealth manager with $15 billion in client assets.
Sequoia Financial Group said Thursday it entered into an agreement to acquire Zeke Capital Advisors, a Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based multi-office firm with more than $5 billion in assets under management and administration.
The transaction, expected to close on Feb. 28, will create a firm with over $15 billion in client assets, Sequoia said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Akron, Ohio-based Sequoia provides asset management and financial planning services from “across the wealth spectrum” — from individuals to family offices — with locations throughout the central and southeastern U.S.
Sequoia — founded by Tom Haught, its CEO, in 1991 — now manages over $10 billion in assets and employs more than 180 people.
Zeke, founded in 2008 by fund manager Edward Antoian, provides generational family wealth management to individuals, families and foundations. The firm is led by Antoian and Gee Smith, partner and president. Zeke has 28 employees.
The purchase will double the size of Sequoia’s Family Wealth practice in assets under management and in client households, with the combined teams offering a full suite of services to ultra-high-net-worth families and institutions, it said.
“Zeke’s highly credentialed research team brings decades of experience in delivering unique investment opportunities to clients,” Sequoia said in a statement.
“Together, we will broaden and deepen Sequoia’s Family Wealth practice, add to our full-service team of Family Wealth advisors, and enhance the range of our investment offerings as we expand our role within this strategic market,” according to Haught, Sequoia’s CEO.
“After a thorough search for the right partner, Sequoia emerged as the ideal firm to support Zeke’s mission of serving multi-generational families” Antoian said in a statement. “Joining Sequoia’s successful Family Wealth practice will help ensure our clients will be in great hands for generations to come.”
Zeke will start operating under the Sequoia Financial Group brand on March 1. Antoian and Smith will remain actively involved with the firm, according to Sequoia.
Cambridge International Partners was financial advisor and Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders served as legal advisor to Zeke. Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff served as legal advisor to Sequoia.
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