Deals Of The Day: The Latest In Wealth Management M&A - Robertson Stephens, abrdn, HighVista Strategies

Editorial Staff

4 October 2023

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management
Robertson Stephens Wealth Management has expanded in the San Francisco Bay Area by welcoming Lifeguard Wealth, a California registered investment advisor managing over $100 million in advisory assets.

Lifeguard’s founder, Joe Delaney, joins Robertson Stephens as managing director and principal.

The addition takes the firm’s total assets under management to $4.6 billion, it said in a statement earlier this week. Also, this takes its footprint to 19 teams with 81 employees in 17 locations across the US.

With a career spanning over 40 years in financial services, Delaney has expertise as a wealth manager, corporate executive, business owner, real estate owner and broker, CPA, and community leader.

Prior to founding Lifeguard Wealth in 2012 – Delaney was a former lifeguard himself - he held several senior positions with real estate institutional investment, real estate capital and wealth management firms. Delaney holds an MBA in finance from UCLA Anderson and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University.

abrdn, HighVista
The US subsidiary of UK-listed abrdn – the business formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen – has completed the management transfer of about $4 billion in assets under management and 30 employees to HighVista Strategies.

The move comes after abrdn plc concluded, following a business review, that the US Private Equity and Venture Capital capabilities would be best developed under a different ownership and management structure.

The sale, by abrdn Inc., underscores its parent’s commitment to get out of non-core businesses, it said in a statement yesterday.

“The sale of our US private markets business to HighVista is a further step in delivering on our Group strategy. We have made strong progress in simplifying our investments business, focusing on products that are right for our clients where we have strength and scale,” Stephen Bird, CEO abrdn, said.

Rothschild & Co advised abrdn on financial aspects of the deal, and Proskauer Rose was its legal advisor. PL Advisors served as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLP served as legal advisor to HighVista Strategies.