After a series of delays, New York–based registered investment advisor Tiedemann Group and London-based wealth management and investment firm Alvarium Investments have merged via Cartesian Growth Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company that launched in early 2021. The combined company, now called Alvarium Tiedemann Holdings, began trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker “ALTI.”
The new company, valued at $1.2 billion, has a combined $60 billion in assets under advisement and over 450 professionals across four continents. It will be one of the largest global multifamily offices with alternative asset management expertise traded on the Nasdaq.
“We’ve established a truly distinctive, global wealth and asset management firm with a breadth of international capabilities and access to an entrepreneurial network,” said Michael Tiedemann, who has been named CEO of Alvarium Tiedemann. “ALTI has a remarkable board of directors and leadership team to steward this new phase of growth. In 2023, we plan to capitalize on the opportunity to provide our clients and partners with best-in-class financial advisory services, access to alternative investment opportunities and a leading impact investing offering.”
The executive team also includes CFO Christine Zhao, a former managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; COO Kevin Moran, former COO at Tiedemann Advisors; and CMO Claire Verdirame, former CMO at Alvarium.
As of 3:24 p.m. Eastern time, ALTI was trading down 18.6%. Earlier in the day, it had dropped more than 30% from its opening price.
Alvarium Tiedemann also announced this week it has entered into a new $250 million credit facility led by BMO Capital Markets Corp. It includes a $150 million revolving credit facility and $100 million term loan that will be used to pay down subsidiary debt and fund growth initiatives, the firm said in a statement.
“Expansion through strong organic growth and accretive acquisitions is a key priority for us, as a differentiated provider of financial advisory services and alternative investment opportunities,” Tiedemann said in a statement. “To date, we have successfully integrated a number of businesses, and this credit facility provides the financial flexibility to execute our growth initiatives to drive margin expansion.”
Tiedemann, founded in 1999, is a U.S.-focused multifamily office providing comprehensive financial advisory services to ultra-high-net-worth families, entrepreneurs and foundations. The firm has $29 billion in assets under administration and management across 145 professionals.
Alvarium is an international multifamily office founded in 2009 and provides investment advisory across wealth and asset management. The firm has about $23 billion in AUM and AUA and 260 professionals. It specializes in bespoke real estate solutions and merchant banking expertise in the innovation economy space.
The deal also includes TIG Advisors, Tiedemann’s alternative asset manager founded in 1980. It has about $8 billion in assets and 36 professionals.
According to an investor presentation, the combined firm has seen a 15% compound annual growth rate in AUM/AUA from 2019 to 2021. Recurring income has grown 24% compounded annually from 2019 to 2021, and the combined firm has grown its margins from 15% at year-end 2019 to 30% at the end of 2021.
Overall, the SPAC market had a rough 2022, with many deals simply collapsing. But some SPACs are succeeding in the wealth management space. Just recently, Kingswood Acquisition Corp. (KWAC), the SPAC sponsored by the major shareholders in British wealth management firm Kingswood Group and a sister company to Kingswood U.S., filed its S-4 with the SEC, giving investors a glimpse at the firm's revenue and profit and an indication that the deal is close. That would allow broker/dealer aggregator Wentworth Management Services, which owns four independent broker/dealers, to go public. It's expected to close sometime between now and mid-May 2023.