Coldstream and Paracle Advisors to Merge, Creating $5.7 Billion RIA
Coldstream Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser with $4.3 billion in client assets, and Paracle, an RIA $1.4 billion, plan to merge under the Coldstream brand.
Coldstream Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser with $4.3 billion in client assets, and Paracle, an RIA with $1.4 billion, plan to merge under the Coldstream brand, with an expanded management team that includes executives from each firm. The companies noted that the transaction, which is expected to close this summer, was completed without private equity or other forms of outside equity capital.
The combined company will have 103 professionals that will provide wealth management and financial planning for high-net-worth clients across the country, with an emphasis on the Pacific Northwest.
“In coming together, not only have we combined organizations that have highly complementary skills and capabilities, but we are also demonstrating that there is an alternative to joining the private equity consolidation bandwagon,” said Kevin Fitzwilson, Coldstream’s managing shareholder.
He added, “Private equity firms often pressure wealth management firm leaders to focus on the bottom line rather than placing clients at the front and center. As a result, RIA owners are increasingly hungry for opportunities to combine with like-minded firms in deals that are about strategy, culture and values, versus financial engineering.”
Founded in 1996, Coldstream provides comprehensive wealth management, insurance and financial planning services. While the Paracle merger is Coldstream’s largest integration to date, it has also added George R. Pierce & Associates and The Rainier Group in recent years.
Paracle’s co-founders and senior leadership will assume new roles with Coldstream:
Anne Marie Stonich, Paracle co-founder and managing director will become Coldstream’s chief wealth strategist and marketing lead.
Josh Harris, Paracle co-founder and managing director will serve as managing director of corporate development and a Coldstream board member, working with Fitzwilson to help form strategic partnerships with other independent wealth management firms.
EJ Brink, Paracle co-founder and managing director will become a portfolio manager and serve as a member of Coldstream’s investment strategy group.
Duane Duim, managing partner at Paracle, will serve as a team lead and relationship manager at Coldstream.
Coldstream Wealth Management is an employee-owned wealth management firm with offices in Bellevue, Seattle, and Lake Oswego, Oregon.
