The latest M&A deals in wealth management across North America.

US-based Cresset Asset Management, part of Cresset Capital Management, has bought San Francisco RIA firm Cypress Wealth Advisor for an undisclosed sum. The Cypress team will join Cresset, it said.

The acquired firm has more than $500 million in assets under management – the same AuM figure as the Chicago-based firm Evanston Advisors that Cresset bought in March this year.

Cresset also plans to pursue “similar partnerships” with other firms, it said in a recent statement. 

Cypress - formed in 2004 - is a younger business than Cresset, which was created in 2017 by investment industry figures Eric Becker and Avy Stein.

Earlier this week, Family Wealth Report interviewed Michael Cole, who is Cresset Asset Management CEO, about his views on aligning clients’ interests with those of the firm, independence, and shifting investment behaviors.

Hermes Wealth Strategies
Newly-formed Hermes Wealth Strategies, a California-based firm headed by Jeremy Commeret, has joined financial planning and RIA firm Integrated Partners to drive its growth. 

Hermes focuses on financial planning, estate planning and wealth management for the region’s high net worth farmers, business owners and doctors. 

The business is the 37th regional office at Integrated, and Commeret is the 129th advisor to call the firm home since it was founded in 1996. 

Commeret and his colleagues oversee about $170 million in advisory and brokerage assets through LPL Financial and Charles Schwab Institutional (as of April 25, 2019).

Originally from France, Commeret studied in the UK and moved to the US, working in sectors including telecoms before switching to offering financial advice.