Chicago-based Cresset Asset Management announced today that it was acquiring Asset Management Advisors, a Houston firm with $500 million in assets founded by Lynn Mathre in 1986. The acquisition is the fourth that the relatively young Cresset has done since its founding in 2017.

Cresset now has $14.5 billion in assets under management.

Asset Management Advisors offers wealth management to wealthy families and individuals, as well as trusts and foundations, with a special focus on tax management.

A spokesperson for Cresset said that Asset Management Advisors’ tax overlay program was a complement to the private investing options that Cresset pursues. Cresset was founded in 2017 by two well-known private equity executives, Eric Becker of Sterling Partners and Avy Stein of Willis Stein & Partners. They founded their RIA firm, the spokesperson said, to build a holistic planning and wealth management model with private investing options that they couldn't find elsewhere. The firm serves CEOs, business owners, entrepreneurs and private equity partners.

Since its founding, Cresset has acquired three other firms: the Reston, Va.-based PagnatoKarp in June 2020; San Francisco’s Cypress Wealth Advisors in May 2019; and another Chicago firm, Evanston Advisors, in March 2019.

The spokesperson said that besides the cultural fit, Asset Management Advisors’ location in Houston also fit with Cresset’s growth plan of serving clients in the growing Texas market.

DeVoe & Co., an investment bank and consulting firm, advised Asset Management Advisors, DeVoe said in a separate statement.