Singapore-based digital wealth adviser Endowus has acquired a majority stake in Carret Private Investments, a Hong Kong-based wealth manager and multi-family office.
Endowus did not disclose the size of the deal, although it noted that the combined group had $4bn in assets under management at the end of the first half of 2022.
Through the acquisition, Endowus will also have a minority stake in Lumen Capital Investors, a Monetary Authority of Singapore-licensed wealth adviser and multi-family office.
Endowus, which purports to be the largest independent digital wealth adviser to span both private wealth and public pension savings in Singapore, only received a licence from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to offer its wealth management and advisory services in the special administrative region in May.
In June, it entered into a partnership with global private markets firm Partners Group to bring institutional private equity access to its private wealth clients. The new offering gives accredited investors direct access to one of Partners Group’s flagship private equity funds. The fund comprises primary and secondary private equity investments across over 500 companies, assets and geographies.
Regarding the acquisition, Samuel Rhee, chairman and chief investment officer of Endowus, said that Carret Private would complement Endowus.
“Endowus is doubling down on the wealth business. The combination of Endowus, Carret Private and the partnership with Lumen will allow us to scale and grow faster and lead the industry towards greater transparency and integrity in providing the highest quality wealth advisory services as fiduciaries and the lowest cost access to solutions that help our clients achieve better outcomes,” he said.
Kenneth Ho, managing partner of Carret Private, said that the acquisition was timely given the consolidation among some of the pure-play private banks.
“This acquisition comes at the perfect time as the region experiences a substantial growth in independent wealth management. At a time when larger private banks are consolidating their bottom lines, clients are now, more than ever, demanding unbiased, independent and transparent wealth advice,” he said.
Endowus noted that the Hong Kong and Singapore wealth markets together represented over 90% of cross-border wealth in the region and that the digital wealth industry has seen huge growth in recent years.
