Strategic Consulting
Private Equity
Cerulli helps private equity firms perform due diligence in the asset management, wealth management, and financial technology markets.
Consulting
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Let Us Help You
Cerulli is an independently owned, boutique firm with an uncompromised, unbiased approach to our diligence engagements. Our diligence capabilities are backed by our strong foundation of industry-leading data, research, and deep professional network.
We help private equity firms confidently deploy capital in the wealth management and financial technology markets. Let us help you understand the risks and the opportunities with our comprehensive market sizing and due diligence.
Explore our service offerings and solutions below.
How We Help Private Equity Firms
Understand the Changing Wealth Management Market
Cerulli helps private equity firms understand the size of the market and project forward. Identify the types of firms and service models most likely to be the winners of the future.
Evaluate Advisor Adoption of Financial Technology Solutions
We help private equity firms identify key decision-making criteria, quantify advisor sentiment and technology spend, and help them make the right investments in their wealth technology client portfolio.
Discover Advisor Succession and the Business Models Most Likely to Retain Assets
Cerulli helps private equity firms understand the types of business models that will be most appealing to advisors as they seek to transfer their businesses and clients.
Capitalize on the Changing Needs of HNW Investors
Cerulli can put their network of wealth managers, financial advisors, fintech providers, and other market movers to work to help you and your portfolio companies capitalize on the shifting tide of HNW investors and their increasingly nuanced investment and service needs.
Assess M&A Opportunity
Cerulli helps strategic buyers with due diligence in the asset management, wealth management, and wealthtech industries. We partner with firms to assess risks and opportunities, conduct company-specific analysis, develop post-acquisition business integration plans, and help firms confidently deploy capital.
Success Stories
RIA Diligence for Private Equity Firm
A private equity firm needed to understand the competitive positioning of a mid-sized RIA as a platform to acquire additional RIAs. Cerulli conducted interviews with independent RIA advisors, custodians, and TAMP executives and delivered original market sizing of the consolidation opportunity in the RIA market.
Private Equity Firm Seeks Due Diligence on Alternative Investments Platform
A private equity firm required due diligence on the market for retail alternative investment adoption and the use of operational fintech platforms. Cerulli interviewed financial advisors across channels who use alternative investments and delivered a detailed outlook on alternative investment adoption.
Distribution Strategy for Private Investments in U.S. Wealth Management Marketplace
Developed comprehensive a distribution approach to entering a highly fragmented market, including an analysis of pricing, product features, vehicles, intermediaries, and communication preferences.
Private Equity Firm Evaluates Retirement Technology Opportunity
Analyzed the market landscape for small-market 401(k) plans and assessed opportunity for tech-based recordkeeper to gain share.
Meet Our Consultants
Our diligence teams come with deep backgrounds in asset and wealth management and extensive knowledge of markets, asset managers, intermediaries, and investors.
Bing Waldert
Managing Director, U.S. Research
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Bing Waldert
Managing Director, U.S. Research
Bing Waldert leads Cerulli’s U.S. Research team comprising seven research practices that cover all elements of the U.S. asset management, wealth management, and retirement markets. He has authored Cerulli reports on the wealth management industry, high-net-worth market, the annuity industry, and retirement markets. He is a frequent board-level and C-suite speaker and well-regarded industry thought leader. He has spoken in front of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), the Investments and Wealth Institute (IWI), and the Money Management Institute (MMI).
He has worked on client projects on emerging manager expansion strategies, independent registered investment advisors (RIAs), multi-family offices (MFOs), investment platforms, and the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) industry. In addition, he has advised multiple private equity firms on acquisitions in the wealth management space.
Full biography here.
Jared F. Baucom
Managing Director, Global Sales & Marketing
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Jared F. Baucom
Managing Director, Global Sales & Marketing
Jared is responsible for global sales, business development, and client service, including oversight of and coordination with the marketing team.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Jared worked as an equity analyst at Baring Asset Management, where he was responsible for the U.S. Utilities sector and also contributed to the U.S. Industrials sector. Prior to Barings, Jared spent two years at State Street Bank.
Full biography here.
Stephen Caruso
Associate Director
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Stephen Caruso
Associate Director
Stephen is a Associate Director in the Wealth Management practice where he leads research into the registered investment advisor (RIA) channels. As part of his research, he is the author of Cerulli’s U.S. RIA Marketplace report and has written on topics including private equity investment in RIAs and the role staff play in RIAs’ pursuit of scale.
Full biography here.
Asher Cheses
Director
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Asher Cheses
Director
Asher is a member of Cerulli’s Wealth Management practice, specializing in trends that impact high-end advisory firms and high-net-worth investors. In his role, Asher is responsible for leading various strategic consulting engagements within the wealth management practice, focusing on multi-family offices, RIAs, private banks, and trust companies.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Asher worked as an Investment Analyst at a Boston-based multi-family office, where he conducted fund due diligence and portfolio analysis for high-net-worth investors.
Full biography here.
Brendan Powers, CFA
Director
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Brendan Powers, CFA
Director
Brendan is a member of Cerulli’s Product Development practice, which focuses on trends related to asset managers’ product development and management functions. This broadly includes assessing the opportunity for product development, evaluating emerging product trends, and understanding distribution and product positioning for investment products across retail and institutional channels.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Brendan worked as a Senior Client Associate at Eaton Vance Management, focusing primarily on the firm’s exchange funds.
Full biography here.
Shawn O'Brien, CFA
Director
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Shawn O'Brien, CFA
Director
Shawn oversees the Retirement practice at Cerulli Associates. In this role, Shawn oversees and mentors a team of analysts responsible for publishing research on the trends in defined contribution (DC) and IRA markets. Additionally, Shawn provides strategic oversight to Cerulli’s consulting projects focused on opportunities in the retirement space. Shawn frequently speaks at industry summits and conferences. Shawn is also responsible for overseeing the firm’s Data Analytics team.
Prior to joining Cerulli Associates, Shawn was a researcher at Harvard Business School where he co-authored case studies alongside professors Adi Sunderam and Luis M. Viceira focused on investment management for individual and institutional investors. Shawn started his career in investment operations at SSgA where he covered the firm’s equity collective investment trusts and institutional separate accounts.
Full biography here.
Michael Rose, MST
Director
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Michael Rose, MST
Director
Michael is a director within Cerulli’s Wealth Management practice, where he researches key elements of the wealth management industry, with an emphasis on broker/dealers and wealth management technology. In this capacity, he regularly engages with constituents across the wealth management ecosystem, including retail investors, financial advisors, and executives within wealth management, asset management, and technology firms, in order to support Cerulli’s market research initiatives.
Prior to joining Cerulli, Michael spent eight years working as a financial advisor, providing comprehensive wealth management services to high-net-worth individuals and families. Prior to his role as a financial advisor, Michael served as a research analyst for IDC, where he was responsible for researching trends within the technology industry and advising senior business executives on product strategy.
Full biography here.
Thought Leadership
Explore Our Perspectives
We cover the most important themes impacting the private equity industry.
July 2024
Alternative Allocations Podcast
Daniil Shapiro, CFA, Director at Cerulli Associates, joins Franklin Templeton's Alternative Allocations Podcast to discuss advisor adoption of alternative investments and the evolution of the industry.
May 2024
M&A in Wealth Management
Access Cerulli’s latest insights on the drivers shaping merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in wealth management and the way that M&A will impact how advice is delivered across channels.
September 2023
Adapting to Growing Private Markets: A Playbook for Practice Success
Advisors can use alternative investments to differentiate practices and attract, consolidate, and retain client assets.
June 2023
Private Equity Carves Out Its Place in the RIA Space
Backed by some of the industry’s biggest PE players, M&A among RIA consolidators is strong.
February 2023
Fund Domicile Selection: Enabling Global Alternative Asset Growth
Explore the domicile selection process for U.S. private capital managers seeking expansion.
December 2022
The Case for Direct Indexing: Differentiation in a Competitive Marketplace
Demand for customization and differentiation from financial advisors and wealth management firms will lead to a surge in assets for direct indexing, with assets expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3% and close 2026 with $825 billion in total assets.
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