Family Offices Merge to Create $10B Wealth Manager

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St. Louis-based Matter Family Office and Denver-domiciled IWP Family Office have decided to combine to create a multifamily office under the Matter name, overseeing more than $10 billion in client assets.  

The combined firm launches with backing from private equity investor BW Forsyth Partners. The new firm will have more than 90 employees working in St. Louis, Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth, with about 140 families as clients.

The move comes as wealth managers seek to increase scale and expand resources to compete in a consolidating marketplace. The merger combines public and private investment capabilities, family office administration, bill payment and reporting, as well as family learning and governance programs.

Matter founder Katherine Lintz will be a managing partner. Lintz started the firm in 1990 with one other employee, originally naming it KBL Financial. It changed to a partnership model in 2015.

IWP founder Charlie Willhoit will be CEO and managing partner of the new firm. Willhoit had been an equity research analyst with J.P. Morgan before becoming president of IWP in 2005.

BW Forsyth has a “sizable minority ownership position” in the new Matter, according to a spokesperson, with the balance of the company stock held by employees. The private equity firm, which is the investment arm of manufacturing and engineering consulting firm Barry-Wehmiller, had already had a stake in the original Matter and had helped it identify IWP as a good merger candidate.

Matter also had a relationship with IWP through its own office in Denver, as well as through a setup facilitated by Jamie McLaughlin, CEO of consultancy J. H. McLaughlin & Co., according to the spokesperson.

According to the St. Louis-based BW Forsyth’s LinkedIn, the investor “deploys operational improvements and strategy development without compromising the autonomy, strategic vision and entrepreneurial spirit of their leadership teams.” Its focus areas include equipment for medical and industrial manufacturers, as well as professional services such as insurance. Matter is its first foray into the RIA sector. 

The PE backing will support Matter’s technology, organic growth strategies and acquisitions as the firm continues to scale.

According to the two firms’ most recent Form ADVs, they were roughly equal in size, with IWP overseeing $3.9 billion in total assets, and Matter overseeing $3.6 billion. 

Earlier this year, Cresset, which had its roots as a family office, increased its client assets from approximately $72 billion to nearly $200 billion following its merger with Monticello Associates, an employee-owned institutional consulting firm. Cresset has minority backing from Constellation Wealth Capital, a private equity company founded by Karl Heckenberg, the former CEO of Emigrant Partners.