Wintrust Financial announced it has a deal to acquire institutional money manager Great Lakes Advisors.
Terms weren't disclosed.
Tom Kiley, managing director of Great Lakes, will become CEO of the combined unit, which will have nearly $4.5 billion in assets under management and be renamed Great Lakes Advisors, a Wintrust Wealth Management Co.
Tom Zidar, chairman and CEO of Wintrust Wealth Management, will keep his chairman title.
Great Lakes, with $2.4 billion in assets under management, was established in 1990 after Raymond Wicklander Jr. spun it off from the old Continental Bank of Chicago. Mr. Wicklander, who now is chairman emeritus of the firm, remains involved in business development.
In an interview, Mr. Zidar said the deal gives Wintrust, a $14 billion bank holding company, a sizable base from which to grow its investment management arm. Wintrust is in the market for more wealth management deals and ultimately aims to amass $10 billion or more in assets, he said.
“This is step one as we go forward,” he said.
Mr. Zidar said he's seen more interest from owners of boutique investment managers in selling now that markets have recovered from their nadir in early 2009.
The drastic decline in the stock market in the wake of the financial crisis “rattled a lot of folks,” he said.
Steve Daniels is a reporter with Crain's Chicago Business, a sister publication of Pensions & Investments.
