Wilmington Trust Corp.'s agreement to acquire Bingham Legg Advisers LLC will give the Delaware company a presence in Boston that the head of its wealth advisory services business said is an important part of a plan to continue to expand nationally.
Rodney P. Wood, an executive vice president with Wilmington Trust and the head of its wealth advisory services business, said the deal would strengthen the company's presence along the East Coast. He said that once it is completed, Wilmington Trust will continue to explore opportunities to expand into Chicago, northern California, and the Pacific Northwest.
"We always have an interest if the right opportunity presents itself," Mr. Wood said in an interview Monday. Bingham Legg "wasn't on our radar a year ago, but when the right opportunity presents itself we are always interest. But right now, nothing is imminent."
The announced acquisition is the latest in a series of investment that Wilmington Trust has made in recent years to expand its wealth advisory services business. Last year, Wilmington Trust expanded its family office services practices on the East Coast; opened wealth advisory services offices in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and added fundamentally indexed and multi-manager real asset mutual funds to its investment offerings.
Mr. Wood said along the East Coast Wilmington has established a presence in New York, Stamford, Conn., Princeton, N.J., Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, Pa., Baltimore, northern Virginia, Atlanta, and Florida.
On Monday, Wilmington Trust announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bingham Legg, a wealth management firm that specializes in tax-sensitive investment strategies for high-net-worth individuals and families.
Mr. Wood said Wilmington Trust has had wealth management clients in the New England area for many years and has been looking for the right opportunity to acquire a wealth manager in the market. He said it is critical to establish a local presence.
"Networking in community organization and local professional organizations is vitally important," Mr. Wood said. "It is hard to get into a market like Boston and develop strong relationship with wealth families with a local presence. Being local is incredibly important in order to develop relationships with wealthy individuals with $10 million to $250 million in assets."
Bingham Legg was formed in 1999 in a joint venture between Bingham McCutchen LLP, an international law firm based in Boston, and Legg Mason, Inc., a Baltimore asset manager. Bingham Legg, which had $1.5 billion in assets under management and another $887 million in assets under supervision as of March 31, provides investment management, tax and financial planning, fiduciary services, and family office services.
When the transaction is completed this quarter, Bingham Legg will take the Wilmington Trust name and Peter E. Simmons, its president and chief executive officer, will become president of Wilmington Trust's wealth advisory services office in Boston.
Mr. Wood said when the deal is completed Wilmington Trust, which had $46 billion in assets under management prior to the acquisition, would begin to market its family office services and its investment platform to Bingham Legg's customers and through the Boston market.
"I have been back and forth to Boston at least a dozen times over the past few years looking for the right firm," he said. "We are confident we have found the right match."
