Mason Stevens appoints strategy chief to lead UHNW growth
Wealth platform Mason Stevens has welcomed a chief strategy officer to lead the expansion of its UHNW segment, who joins from Morgan Stanley.
Peter Mermelas was appointed to fill the C-suite role, where he will be responsible for overseeing the growth of the company’s ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) cohort.
In particular, he will identify and accelerate expansion opportunities to enter into new market segments, while also developing Mason Stevens’ relationships with Australian family offices and their financial advisers.
Mermelas holds 25 years of experience in equity and fund derivatives, retirement solutions, and investment strategies for UHNW clients.
Most recently, he spent over six years at Morgan Stanley as its head of family office where he delivered solutions to UHNW investors in family offices. Prior to this, Mermelas served at UBS for eight years within institutional equity and fund derivatives. He also worked at Merrill Lynch, Westpac Institutional Bank, and Commonwealth Bank.
Tim Yule, chief executive at Mason Stevens, welcomed Mermelas to the business, commenting: “Peter brings extensive experience in the financial services sector and a strong dedication to ensuring clients access the right investment solutions to reach their objectives.”
The incoming chief strategy officer said he looked forward to driving the growth trajectory of the company.
“I have been impressed by their journey so far and believe there are plenty of opportunities to expand into new segments. I firmly believe they have the right combination of sophisticated investment offerings and knowledge to provide UHNW clients and their advisers with expert solutions,” Mermelas said.
The announcement comes soon after Mason Stevens was acquired by Sydney-based private equity firm, Adamantem Capital, last month.
At the time, Yule said the partnership with Adamantem represented a “pivotal moment” in the company’s history, allowing it to fast-track its vision of providing more investment solutions to its growing client base.
Speaking later with Money Management, the CEO said the platform is targeting a certain cohort of advice practices, rather than trying to be “all things to all people”.
“We are really focused on delivery of solutions for more sophisticated advice practices, advice practices that are looking to scale and grow their businesses, advice practices that are looking to differentiate themselves from the market,” Yule commented.
“When we look at our average client balance today, it is materially higher than what the more mass market platform businesses are at. We have many family offices that we will service, often with the support of a third-party adviser. That is our natural sweet spot.”
Another way Mason Stevens will expand moving forward, according to Yule, is through M&A – something it hasn’t focused on in the past as it prioritised organic growth.
“The one thing, for example, that we haven’t focused on traditionally is around M&A – that is now firmly on the radar. So our ability to scale through that undoubtedly will be accelerated by Adamantem.
“Clearly there are [M&A] opportunities out there which may be beneficial for Mason Stevens and for clients.”
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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