Sadly, another entity had a sudden reason to sell. Cochran, who had fought his cancer for 10 years, died in November 2013. His estate sold 900,000 shares into the market soon after; it still owns about a million shares, worth $11 million. Hough took over as CEO after Cochran died. Jaffe remains a senior advisor to the firm and the third-largest shareholder.
Despite the stock’s slump, an IPO was the right move, Hough says. It helped Silvercrest stay independent, something that was important to Cochran. “It was his dream to build an enduring firm,” he says.
How We Crunched the Numbers. Our ranking is based on data compiled by Bloomberg from information self-reported by multifamily offices. The list was assembled through research by the Bloomberg Rankings team via a survey of more than 1,000 firms worldwide, using a database of contacts obtained from Key Biscayne, Florida–based FamilyOffices.com. We received responses from 98 firms.
We requested data as of the end of the first quarter of 2015; some data is for year-end 2014. Change in year-over-year assets under advisement was calculated using the data supplied by the firms. Single-family offices are excluded. Family offices that are part of private banks are included if the bank has a unit that offers direct and comprehensive investment and noninvestment services to high-net-worth families.
Figures for AUA include only assets managed by the family office unit of the bank. For nonbank family offices, AUA includes wealth directly managed by the offices and funds outsourced to money management firms. Money managed for private foundations is included. Money managed for pension funds is excluded. Insurance policies and trusts on which advice is provided are included.
The ranked firms provide both investment and noninvestment services. The latter may include family meetings, financial education, art consulting, estate planning, family governance, foundation management, business consulting, property management, travel arrangement and shopping assistance.