An alternative investment specialist on the East Coast is merging with a mutual fund accounting shop in the Midwest. Watch for them to expand their team further post-merger.

Randy Myeroff, CEO of Cohen & Company, confirms that Baltimore-based Arthur Bell is merging with Cohen. The two firms combined will have more than 550 employees, nine offices, and nearly $100 million in annual revenue. Cohen's own Chris Bellamy and Arthur Bell managing member Corey McLaughlin will become co-presidents of the combined firm's investment industry services divisions, which will have about 225 people and support about 1,500 funds (including mutual funds and hedge funds).

The combined firm will stick with the Cohen & Company brand when the deal closes this month. Both firms are partnerships. Pricing and terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"There's very little overlap of what we do ... Almost all of the people are coming on board," Bellamy tells MFWire, noting that the deal will add about 125 people to Cohen initially with more coming down the line. "We anticipate that we'll be adding jobs as a result of the transaction."

M&A is not a regular thing for Cohen, which traditionally prefers to hire to expand the team. Yet they're open to doing more deals in the future, so long as there's a "cultural fit," Bellamy says.

"It's very hard to find that," Bellamy says. "We're always looking at things opportunistically."

"It's not part of a strategy that we need to do acquisitions and mergers to get bigger," Bellamy adds. "Hiring talent is more our style."

Myeroff points to Arthur Bell's specialization in supporting alternative investments and real estate as being a good fit for meshing with Cohen & Company's own investment industry services division. McLaughlin highlights Cohen and Arthur Bell's "combined expertise in hedge funds, mutual funds, and ETFs," and he hints "elevated service offerings that more holistically support" clients in the alternative investment industry.

"We had a couple of mutual clients that we started working on eight years ago," Bellamy says. "We liked the people, liked how they approached their clients."

"Neither firm was compelled to do a merger," Bellamy adds. "This is an opportunity where one plus one equals ten." 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE