Prime Capital Financial is launching a dedicated family office division by acquiring an Austin, Texas-based firm that oversees $1.55 billion in client assets.
Prime has acquired SineCera Capital, founded in 2019 by Keven Kaylakie, to establish its new Prime Capital Family Office, focused on ultra-high-net-worth families. The division will complement Prime’s wealth management, retirement plan advisement and financial wellness divisions.
Overland Park, Kans.-based Prime had been looking for about three years at either acquiring or building its own family office to work with the ultra-high-net-worth clients among its some 15,000 clients and meet what it believes will be a growing need from prospects, said CEO Glenn Spencer.
“We put out a lot of feelers and talked to a lot of firms,” he said. “The challenge was that the ones we looked at up until now had their business model built and were kind of rigid around it; we needed something that would fit within our advisor structure and culture.”
SineCera Capital, which Kaylakie founded in 2019 after working at a trust and estate firm, fits Prime’s flexibility needs. He also brought expertise in alternative investment strategies that, paired with Prime’s own alts offerings, should be a draw for ultra-high-net-worth families, according to Spencer
Kaylakie will be president of the new Prime Capital Family Office, which will focus on services such as estate planning, investment management, bill payment and banking management. He had previously worked with high-net-worth families, family offices and business owners in roles at Northern Trust, Merrill and an RIA in Central Texas.
“This partnership allows us to broaden our reach and enhance the tailored services we provide while maintaining the high level of attention and discretion our clients expect,” he said in a statement.
After the deal closes, Prime Capital CEO Spencer said Kaylakie will spend the first four to six months visiting offices and syncing with advisors. He said of Prime’s roughly 230 advisors, about 45 to 50 may have potential family office clients.
“When people go multi-family office, the first thing they want is quality reporting across all their investments, ownerships in businesses, and any private investments,” Spencer said. “Kevin and team have a lot of expertise with (portfolio management platform) Addepar and consolidated reporting—that is usually the first step. Then, it’s client-specific and driven by what they desire in terms of estate planning, tax advisory, bill payment, and other needs.”
Spencer sees the need for family office work growing as wealth is transferred to younger generations, who “desire services more than the first generation in a great number of cases.”
Meanwhile, Prime plans to remain active in the RIA acquisition space, with about 11 deals in process already this year, Spencer said.