Seattle-based registered investment adviser Coldstream Wealth Management has teamed up with Arnerich Massena, a Portland, Ore.-based RIA. with approximately $2 billion in assets under management. Once the deal closes, Coldstream will have $10 billion in customer assets.
Arnerich Massena will operate as Team Rae and all 19 employees, including seven advisors, will become Coldstream shareholders. Including this transaction, Coldstream has almost doubled in size over the past three years without taking on any outside capital.
“This wasn't some kind of ambitious growth plan to hit a number by a date because some whiteboard told us to do it from a PE (private equity) firm,” said Kevin Fitzwilson, Coldstream's managing shareholder. “It was more about finding like-minded partners. The market has been pretty good – outside of 22 – for that.”
“We're taking that road less traveled to remain truly independent — not taking any outside capital.”
Founded in 1991, Arnerich Massena is an employee-owned firm led by co-CEOs Reegan Rae and Bryan Shipley, both of whom will assume key leadership roles at Coldstream. The firm provides portfolio management, investment advisory and family office services, such as succession planning, business exit planning, family governance and intergenerational wealth planning. It has a foundations and endowments practice, and Shipley will lead that combined line of business within Coldstream.
“Arnerich Massena has a proud history and a unique set of values, so the decision to combine with another firm was not easy, nor was it something that happened overnight,” Rae said in a statement. “However, after getting to know Kevin and other members of Coldstream's leadership team, it became clear that our two firms share a common operating structure, business vision and, most importantly, a focus on culture rooted in service, intellectual curiosity and integrity. ”
Rae said her firm was drawn to Coldstream for its additional services, including tax preparation, property and casualty insurance, investment options and the career opportunities it offered its staff. She was also impressed with the RIA's ability to scale and provide equity ownership without private equity.
“Coldstream is kind of a diamond in the rough in terms of their model and the fact that they can partner not only with the publicly traded organizations that are out there, but also with the private equity-backed groups,” she said.
This latest deal builds on Coldstream's northwest expansion as it aims to build partnerships across the West. The firm aims to grow top line revenue by 20% annually, half through mergers and acquisitions and half organically.
In 2021, the firm merged with Mercer Island, Wash.-based Paraclete Advisors, an RIA with approximately $1.4 billion in client assets. After that, the firm merged with Rosenbaum Financial, another Portland-based firm, in 2021. Last fall, Coldstream joined Seidman Capital Group, a wealth management firm, and Hersman Serles Almond, which provides accounting and consulting services. The two related businesses based in Kirkland, Wash. were founded by Hersman's managing partner, Victoria Serles.
Last year, Coldstream brought Matt Sonnen as chief operating officer to help identify, onboard and integrate new firms.
Founded in 1996, Coldstream was part-owned by Boston Private for about a decade before management made the decision to buy the bank in 2011.