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Berkshire Global has been a registered broker dealer since 2003
Home / transaction / Berkshire Global Advisors client Johnson Financial Group has acquired Cleary Gull
Berkshire Global Advisors client Johnson Financial Group has acquired Cleary Gull
  • has acquired

    • Berkshire Global Advisors client Johnson Financial Group has acquired Cleary Gull

  • Date: January 2016
  • Sector: Wealth Management
  • Sub-Sector: RIA
  • Region: North America
  • Seller AUM: $2.1 Billion

    • Seller Details
    Cleary Gull is an employee-owned firm providing financial advice through two operating divisions: Investment Advisory Services and Investment Banking Services. Cleary Gull provides investment advice with respect to over $2.1 billion of clientassets for high net worth individuals and families, pilots, and not-for-profit hospitals and senior living communities across the nation. Cleary Gull’s investment bankers specialize in providing advice on exclusive sales, mergers and acquisitions, and private debt and equity capital placement, typically for transactions from $10 million to $200 million.

    Buyer Details
    Johnson Financial Group, SC Johnson and Johnson Outdoors, are Johnson family business enterprises headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin. They are separate, independent companies headed by a member of the fifth generation of the Samuel C. Johnson family. They share the same core-set of values and are leaders in their respective markets. Principal owners of Johnson Financial Group are members of the Samuel C. Johnson family including Helen Johnson-Leipold, who serves as Chairman of Board.

    Transaction Summary
    Johnson Financial Group said Wednesday that it plans to acquire the Milwaukee investment advisory firm Cleary Gull Advisors Inc., a move that will bolster Johnson’s goal of expanding its wealth management business. The acquisition will add 40 financial employees and $2.1 billion in assets under advisement to Racine-based Johnson Financial Group. Under terms of the transaction, the firm will be a subsidiary called Cleary Gull Advisors, a Johnson Financial Group Company. Michael J. Cleary, the chairman and chief executive officer of Cleary Gull, will be named president of the subsidiary. The acquisition is in keeping with a plan announced in 2014 by Thomas M. Bolger, president and CEO of Johnson Financial Group, to grow wealth management. He said the acquisition of Cleary Gull will boost wealth assets under administration by about a third, to $8.5 billion.