Rockefeller Adds $1.4B Illinois RIA

Rockefeller Capital Management has reached an agreement to acquire Oak Brook, Illinois-based Whitnell & Co., a $1.4 billion RIA that became a subsidiary of Associated Banc-Corporation in 2017.

Whitnell is Rockefeller’s second family office acquisition to date, following the addition of Silicon Valley-based Financial Clarity in 2019. The RIA serves affluent families across the Midwest and focuses on multi-family office services that include financial planning, wealth management and generational wealth transfer.

Through a strategic partnership between Rockefeller and Associated Banc-Corp., Whitnell will become a division of the Rockefeller Family Office, while Associated Bank will become a mortgage lending referral partner of Rockefeller in the Midwest.

The full Whitnell team, including about 25 professionals, three advisor teams and three senior client advisors, will join Rockefeller as part of the deal, which Rockefeller said is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in March. Other terms, including the price, were not disclosed.

Expansion Plans

As of Dec. 31, Rockefeller oversaw $69 billion in client assets and had 134 employees within Family Office (excluding contingent workers and interns), a company spokesperson said.

The addition of Whitnell is part of the firm’s ongoing goal of expanding its presence in the Midwest after opening its first Chicago-based private wealth management office in late October with the addition of CM Private Wealth, which included two advisors and about $550 million in client assets.

“Conversations around a partnership began in the second half of 2020 around the opportunity for a larger partnership between Rockefeller and Associated Bank,” the spokesperson said.