Wilmington (NYSE:WL)
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From Jul 2019 to Jul 2024
Wilmington Trust Corporation (NYSE:WL) announced that it has signed a
definitive agreement to acquire Bingham Legg Advisers LLC, a
Boston-based wealth management firm that specializes in tax-sensitive
investment strategies for high-net-worth individuals and families. This
transaction adds Boston to Wilmington Trust’s
network of national Wealth Advisory Services offices and gives clients
of Bingham Legg Advisers access to Wilmington Trust’s
full spectrum of investment and other wealth management services.
“Wilmington Trust has had wealth management
clients in the New England area for many years and we have been looking
for the right opportunity in Boston for some time,”
said Ted T. Cecala, Wilmington Trust chairman and CEO. “Bingham
Legg’s investment management philosophy and
team approach to serving clients are very similar to ours. Our two firms
fit well together, and I am delighted to be entering one of the nation’s
top high-net-worth markets with such a capable, highly regarded, and
well established team already in place.”
Bingham Legg Advisers (BLA) was formed in 1999 in a joint venture
between what is now Bingham McCutchen LLP, a leading international law
firm, and Legg Mason, Inc., a global asset management firm. Today BLA is
a registered investment advisor with clients throughout the United
States as well as in Europe and Asia. The firm provides investment
management, tax and financial planning, fiduciary services, and family
office services. At March 31, 2007, BLA had $1.5 billion in assets under
management and another $887 million in assets under supervision.
BLA’s professionals work with their clients’
legal and tax advisors to develop asset management strategies for
marketable securities, closely held stock, real estate, limited
partnership interests, and other types of assets. Most of BLA’s
client relationship managers have law, MBA, or advanced accounting
degrees and extensive experience with complex financial arrangements.
All of BLA’s portfolio managers have earned
the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
When the transaction is complete, BLA will take the Wilmington Trust
name and BLA’s 30 employees will become
Wilmington Trust staff members. Peter E. Simmons, BLA’s
president and CEO, will become president of Wilmington Trust’s
Wealth Advisory Services office in Boston. Wilmington Trust’s
Boston office will occupy BLA’s offices on
Milk Street in the financial district.
“Our alignment with Wilmington Trust
significantly broadens our capabilities and allows us to better serve
the highly sophisticated needs of our clients,”
said Mr. Simmons. “We look forward to joining
forces with one of the oldest and most respected wealth advisory
companies in the United States.” Mr. Simmons
was part of the group that formed BLA and he has been with the firm
since its inception.
The BLA acquisition gives Delaware-based Wilmington Trust a physical
presence in the fifth largest high-net-worth market in the United
States. According to the TNS Financial Affluent Market Research Program,
only the markets in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
are larger. Wilmington Trust already has Wealth Advisory Services (WAS)
offices in New York, Los Angeles, and the Baltimore-Washington, D.C.
area, as well as in five other states and its home state of Delaware,
where the company is also the state’s leading
commercial and retail bank.
The transaction announced today is the latest in a series of investments
that Wilmington Trust has made in recent years to expand its WAS
business, which provides investment management, fiduciary services, and
family office services to clients in all 50 states and 35 other
countries. In 2006, the company significantly expanded its family office
services practices on the East Coast; opened new WAS offices in
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and added fundamentally
indexed and multi-manager real asset mutual funds to its investment
offerings.
“With roots that date to our founding in 1903
as a wealth management company, Wilmington Trust is a natural fit for
high-net-worth individuals and families in Boston and New England,”
said Rodney P. Wood, executive vice president and head of Wilmington
Trust’s WAS business. “We
look forward to working with Bingham Legg’s
clients and perpetuating the outstanding service they have come to
expect.”
Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the second
quarter of 2007, were not disclosed. BLA’s
revenue and expenses will be consolidated into Wilmington Trust’s
financial statements. The transaction is expected to be modestly
accretive to Wilmington Trust’s earnings in
2007.
Wilmington Trust Corporation (NYSE:WL) is a financial services holding
company that provides Regional Banking services throughout the Delaware
Valley region, Wealth Advisory Services for high-net-worth clients in 36
countries, and Corporate Client Services for institutional clients in 86
countries. Its wholly owned bank subsidiary, Wilmington Trust Company,
which was founded in 1903, is one of the largest personal trust
providers in the United States and the leading retail and commercial
bank in Delaware. Wilmington Trust Corporation and its affiliates have
offices in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Vermont, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands, London, Dublin, and
Frankfurt.
Chartered Financial Analyst is a trademark owned by CFA Institute.