Year: 2022
Clearstead Advisors, LLC, a Cleveland-based institutional and private client financial advisory firm, has acquired a local high performing wealth management firm as part of its continued strategy to grow through acquisitions. This will be the sixth acquisition Clearstead has made in the past seven years. This firm will add about $530 million to Clearstead’s current $31 billion under advisement.
On June 30, Clearstead signed a definitive agreement to acquire Scott Snow (financial advisors) LLC, a Westlake-based private wealth management firm founded by Scott Snow in 2005. Snow advises high-net-worth families and provides holistic financial and tax planning services.
Of this acquisition, Clearstead Chairman and CEO Dave Fulton said, “Scott Snow has done a fabulous job building his firm and has provided his clients with his expertise in investments, taxes, and financial planning.”
Scott Snow will join Clearstead as Senior Managing Director and Partner in the firm’s Private Wealth Management Group. Mr. Snow said, “Clearstead is a nationally recognized and well-respected wealth management firm, and I look forward to joining such a talented group of people and enhancing our overall client success.”
Snow will operate under the Clearstead Advisors, LLC name and keep its current location in Westlake.
District Capital Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor to Clearstead on the transaction.
Flexpoint Ford, a private equity firm specializing in the financial services and healthcare industries, announced entry into a definitive agreement to sell TigerRisk Partners, LLC (“TigerRisk”), a leading risk, capital and strategic advisor to the global insurance and reinsurance industries, to Howden Group (“Howden”), an international insurance broking group.
TigerRisk significantly enhances the scale and depth of Howden’s reinsurance and capital markets offering and builds on Howden’s integrated global approach to deliver more choice for their clients.
“This is an exciting development for TigerRisk as we look forward to partnering with Howden to further strengthen our position as a trusted strategic advisor to the global insurance and reinsurance markets. Our partnership with Howden reflects our continued commitment to building a global platform focused on recruiting top-tier talent and deploying world-class technology and analytics to deliver innovative solutions to our clients,” said Rod Fox, TigerRisk’s Co-Founder and Executive Chairman. “We have enjoyed the outstanding partnership with Flexpoint Ford and have benefited greatly from their strategic advice during a period of tremendous growth for TigerRisk.”
Rob Bredahl, TigerRisk’s CEO added, “This transaction is an important milestone for TigerRisk and could not have been achieved without our employees’ dedication to delivering creative solutions and unrelenting focus on client service. Our relationship with Flexpoint Ford has been an important part of this journey and their deep understanding of our business and support in executing our growth strategy has made them an ideal partner.”
During the partnership with Flexpoint Ford, TigerRisk accelerated the recruitment of new talent to the platform and expanded their employee base by nearly 50%, which led to a 25% annual growth in revenue.
Chris Ackerman, Managing Partner of Flexpoint Ford commented: “On behalf of our investors, we are grateful for the partnership with TigerRisk and its employee shareholders during a time of accelerated growth for the company. The success of our partnership has allowed us to create significant value for all stakeholders of TigerRisk.”
Dominic Hood, Managing Director of Flexpoint Ford, added: “Investing across the insurance ecosystem is an important area of focus for Flexpoint Ford and our partnership with TigerRisk advanced our knowledge and experience in this important sector. We are thankful for the tireless efforts of the entire TigerRisk team during our partnership.”
TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory acted as financial advisor to Flexpoint Ford and TigerRisk. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to Flexpoint Ford and TigerRisk. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acted as legal counsel to TigerRisk management and employees.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Flexpoint Ford, a private equity investment firm specializing in the financial services and healthcare industries, announced today that Meredith Stein has joined the Firm as Head of Investor Relations. Based in Flexpoint’s New York office, Ms. Stein will lead and manage the Firm’s investor relations, communications, and fundraising efforts.
“We are excited to welcome Meredith to the Flexpoint team. She will be a great asset to the Firm as she has a wealth of investor relations experience and she is a terrific fit with Flexpoint’s culture,” said Don Edwards, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Flexpoint.
“The development of this new role emanates from our commitment to thoughtful engagement with our valued investors. As we continue to grow and expand as a firm, we are confident that Meredith will be a valuable contributor, representing Flexpoint in the market and further strengthening relationships with investors,” noted Chris Ackerman, Managing Partner.
Ms. Stein commented, “I am extremely honored to join Flexpoint, one of the country’s leading financial services and healthcare focused private equity investment firms, and to be working alongside the entire team at Flexpoint. I look forward to having a positive impact on Flexpoint’s engagement with its limited partners.”
Prior to joining Flexpoint, Ms. Stein led the investor relations efforts at Cross Ocean Partners, a Stone Point Capital backed special situations credit manager based in Greenwich, CT and London, UK. Prior to Cross Ocean Partners, Meredith was a Vice President at Avenue Capital Group, responsible for investor relations. Meredith started her career in the marketing and investor relations group at Arden Asset Management.
Flexpoint Ford, a private equity investment firm specializing in the financial services and healthcare industries, announced today that Michael Morris has joined the Firm as a Managing Director in its Chicago office. Mr. Morris will focus on identifying, evaluating, and executing investment opportunities in the Firm’s asset opportunities funds. In September 2021, Flexpoint closed on $825 million of committed capital to Flexpoint Asset Opportunity Fund II, and Mr. Morris’s arrival expands the Firm’s existing senior investment team.
Mr. Morris brings deep investing experience to his new position at Flexpoint. Most recently, Mr. Morris was a Managing Director at Northleaf Capital Partners where he had responsibility for leading opportunistic corporate and asset-backed investments globally. During his tenure at Northleaf Capital Partners, Mr. Morris led numerous investments across a variety of subsectors including litigation finance, music royalties, and consumer financial services. Prior to joining Northleaf Capital Partners, Mr. Morris was a Principal at H.I.G. Capital and also worked at Moelis & Company and Macquarie Capital.
“We are excited to welcome Michael to Flexpoint. His investment expertise and broad network will help expand our ability to deploy capital in opportunistic asset-driven investments across financial services subsectors and assets,” said Don Edwards, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Flexpoint.
Chris Ackerman, Managing Partner, also noted, “Michael’s skills and experience are highly complementary to Flexpoint as we continue to build our team of talented investment professionals.”
“Flexpoint is one of the leading financial services and healthcare focused investment firms, and I am excited to join a team where I believe my extensive background in middle market asset-backed and opportunistic investing will help the Firm build on its already impressive investment platform,” said Mr. Morris.
YPrime, LLC, a global leader in cloud-based eClinical solutions, announced today the strategic acquisition of Tryl, a software development company with a unique patient engagement solution that brings together beautiful design, dynamic personalization, and applied behavioral science that is designed to boost engagement, reduce dropouts, and deliver outcomes in clinical trials. The acquisition includes the transfer of all staff, development capabilities, and intellectual properties to YPrime, and will integrate with YPrime’s Patient Engagement Technologies solutions.
“YPrime’s major priority has always been to anticipate the needs of tomorrow’s clinical trials and create powerful eClinical tools that simplify the lives of sponsors, sites, and patients,” says Shawn Blackburn, CEO, YPrime. “This combination with Tryl helps us leap ahead in fulfilling our vision of creating the industry’s first-of-its-kind solution to help keep patients more informed and engaged throughout the entire clinical trial process, especially as our industry accelerates toward decentralized clinical trial models.”
“An ever-increasing focus on patient centricity demands an integrated approach to how patients are engaged,” says Ian Greenfield, CEO of Tryl. “This starts from the moment patients are recruited and continues throughout the entire patient journey. YPrime has a strong vision for the future and by bringing together offerings from our two companies, we can create a novel solution that takes head on the most pressing challenges associated with attracting, engaging, and retaining patients.”
Tryl’s tools provide an experience that is personalized, predictive, empathetic, and relative to the overall patient journey. Tryl’s proprietary engagement score is designed to reduce patient dropout rates. Rooted in consumer experience, the Tryl team applies proven behavioral principles from other industries (such as professional sports and consumer finance) to seek to improve patient adherence to study protocols.
Mark Maietta, President, YPrime expressed his enthusiasm, “The addition of the Tryl team and their innovative solutions will boost patient compliance and reduce attrition, and the timing is perfect. YPrime has built an enviable market position with its strong eCOA and IRT capabilities. Now we can seamlessly layer on complementary solutions to our innovative technology stack for running successful decentralized trials.”
Promotion Demonstrates Continued Development of Flexpoint Ford Leadership
Flexpoint Ford (“Flexpoint”), a private equity investment firm specializing in the financial services and healthcare industries, announced the appointment of Chris Ackerman as Managing Partner of the firm, effective immediately.
Don Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Flexpoint, said, “In addition to developing an exceptional investment track record during his long tenure at Flexpoint, Chris has displayed outstanding leadership over the last several years. As I continue in my role as Chief Executive Officer, this promotion demonstrates the broadening of Flexpoint’s senior leadership team. I am proud of the exceptional culture we have established, and am more excited about the future of Flexpoint than I have ever been. I look forward to having Chris help me lead Flexpoint.”
Mr. Ackerman joined Flexpoint in 2005 as a Vice President and was named Managing Director in 2014. In addition to his role as Managing Partner, Chris will continue to focus on investment opportunities in the financial services sector. He currently serves on the Boards of several Flexpoint portfolio companies, including Alera Group, GeoVera Insurance, Purchasing Power, TigerRisk Partners and Vale Insurance. Prior to joining Flexpoint, he was an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.A. in Mathematical Economics from Colgate University.
Mr. Ackerman said, “I am truly honored to serve in this new role at Flexpoint. Since joining the team in 2005, we have grown from investing a $225 million first fund, into a firm with $5.5 billion of assets under management. I am proud that we have been able to do this while maintaining a strong culture that is rooted in collaboration, entrepreneurship, and, most importantly, a “limited partner first” mentality. The firm’s employees and investors have benefited greatly from Don’s vision and leadership over the past 16 years, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him as Managing Partner.”