The multi-family office, SandAire, and the private investment office, Lord North Street, have agreed to merge, creating a combined firm with 50 staff.

London-based SandAire, the multi-family office, and Lord North Street, the private investment office, today announced they are to join forces to create a combined business with 50 staff with offices in Geneva, London and Singapore.

Terms of the merger deal weren’t disclosed. Lord North Street will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SandAire and the distinct brands will remain, a statement from the firms said. The agreement is subject to regulatory approval in the UK.

This publication had heard of a potential deal involving the businesses and contacted them yesterday but no comment was made until a statement was issued earlier this morning.

The coming together of these firms in this area of the wealth management space is further sign of how M&A activity has been brisk in the sector over the past year; at the start of this week, Singapore-headquartered DBS, as had been widely expected, agreed to buy the Asia private bank of Societe Generale, for $220 million. Other deals involving wealth managers are thought to be on the cards as rising regulatory costs and client demands drive the case for greater scale.

“This is an exciting ambitious strategic step forward for us,” said Alex Scott, founder of SandAire, in the statement from the firms. “Crucially, our businesses share common values on the principles of serving clients and this made the fit so compelling. Together, we are very well positioned to meet the growing global need for families and endowments to access specialised objective guidance on their investments.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Alex Scott will assume the role of executive chairman. William Drake and Adam Wethered, who co-founded Lord North Street, will be vice-chairmen. The two will also be shareholders of the combined business which will be majority owned by the Scott family. (Drake is also a member of the editorial advisory board at WealthBriefing.)

“Our two firms share a distinctive culture and philosophy regarding the provision of bespoke and unbiased investment services to wealthy families and endowments,” said Drake.

“The respect between us is considerable. This combination provides us with better scale to serve clients and to support our employees. It also fits our ambitions for gradual international expansion,” he continued.

Among other changes, the leadership team will see the appointment of Alexandra Altinger as chief executive. She has over 20 years' experience in the global wealth and asset management industry. During this time, she spent a significant part of her career working in Asia and the US. Most recently Altinger worked for Lansdowne Partners. Prior to this she was at Wellington Management leading the sub-advisory and fund distribution business in Europe. 

Scott added that the three founders will continue to remain active in the strategic direction of the firm and continue to interact directly with clients. “Indeed, this will free up our founders to have more contact with our clients, accelerate our ambitions for the business and create exciting careers for our people,” he remarked.

Among further details of the move, the combined firm will manage several billion pounds in assets for wealthy families and endowments including Oxford and Cambridge Colleges.

The two corporate brands SandAire and Lord North Street will continue to operate in the market place.

SandAire was founded in 1996 by Alex Scott. Today, along with the assets of the Scott family, the firm manages investments for a significant number of families and endowments. Lord North Street is four years younger, having been founded by Drake and Wethered in 2000.