Succession Planning for Investment Management Firms

There is a quiet irony developing in wealth management. Private equity firms continue to pay premium, sometimes nosebleed, prices for large RIA platforms. Acquisition funding continues to be available and consolidators keep consolidating. Even as private market exits have slowed and fundraising has become more difficult, sponsors remain willing to commit fresh capital to the sector. At the same time, public markets have shown only modest enthusiasm for investment management businesses.

In this article we discuss four of the most common “silent risks” embedded in otherwise well-intentioned succession plans.

Demographic shifts underlie the long-term market opportunity for medical device manufacturers. While efforts to control costs on the part of the government insurer in the U.S. (and elsewhere) may limit future pricing growth for incumbent products, a growing global market provides domestic device manufacturers with an opportunity to broaden and diversify their geographic revenue base. Developing new products and procedures is risky and usually more resource intensive compared to some other growth sectors of the economy. However, barriers to entry in the form of existing regulations provide a measure of relief from competition, especially for newly developed products.