(Bloomberg) -- Rockefeller Capital Management, the wealth and investment advisory firm that emerged from the Rockefellers’ family office, received backing from Canada’s Desmarais family that values the business at $3 billion.
The New-York based firm secured $622 million from IGM Financial Inc. in exchange for a 20.5% stake and two board seats, the firms said in a statement Monday. The deal, which is the first outside investment in Rockefeller to be disclosed publicly, brings together two of North America’s influential financial families.
It “provides brand value, and shows potential elite advisers we’re looking to hire now that we’re attracting another great family,” Rockefeller Chief Executive Officer Greg Fleming said in an interview.
Andre Desmarais, deputy chairman of Power Corp. of Canada, and James O’Sullivan, president of IGM Financial, are joining Rockefeller’s board. Jeffrey Orr, CEO of Power Corp., will be a special adviser to the board, according to a company spokesperson.
IGM Financial, a subsidiary of Power Corp., is one of Canada’s largest diversified wealth and asset management companies. The deal makes the firm the second largest shareholder behind Andreas Halvorsen’s hedge fund, Viking Global Investors, which remains the majority investor.
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Fleming, 60, who previously ran Merrill Lynch’s global investment bank and was president of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, formed Rockefeller as an expansion of the family office created by John D. Rockefeller in 1882. Fleming acquired Rock & Co., the family’s investment firm, with backing from Viking.
The investment is in line with the firm’s plans to double both its adviser fleet and assets, Fleming said. Rockefeller, which operates in roughly 44 US cities, has it sights set on expanding its presence in new areas and ones where it already exists.
“We will continue to build out the footprint, hire across the US and grow,” he said.
Rockefeller oversaw $100 billion in client assets as of March 31, spanning business segments including wealth-management services for high-net-worth individuals and families, asset management and a strategic advisory business that counsels family office clients on lending, acquisitions and other capital needs.
