North Square to acquire C.S. McKee

North Square Investments has agreed to acquire Pittsburgh-based C.S. McKee, a institutional money manager. No financial terms were disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

PRESS RELEASE

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–North Square Investments (North Square), a multi-boutique manager with a range of equity product offerings, has reached an agreement to acquire the business of C.S. McKee L.P. (McKee), a full-service institutional money manager founded in 1931 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With over $8 billion of assets under management, McKee primarily specializes in a range of taxable fixed-income strategies that focus on providing institutional investors with consistent risk-adjusted performance. McKee also offers a variety of other investment strategies including domestic and international equity and balanced portfolios that are all designed to meet a client’s investment objectives and targeted levels of risk. The consummation of the acquisition is subject to normal and ordinary closing conditions, with closing expected to occur in the first quarter of 2020.
North Square Investments has reached an agreement to acquire the business of C.S. McKee L.P. (McKee), a full-service institutional money manager.

“We are thrilled to become part of the North Square family, which is strongly supported by their private-equity partner, Estancia Capital Partners. This is an excellent opportunity for C.S. McKee to accelerate our business while providing additional resources to better serve our clients,” said Mark Gensheimer, President of McKee. “This transaction allows us to realize our strategic objective of finding a partner who is equally committed to better serving our constituents by expanding product development and availability of our portfolios through new distribution channels as well as continued growth and diversification of the business.”

North Square will provide product development, distribution and administrative support to McKee, which will continue to operate as an independent affiliate based in Pittsburgh. As part of the transaction, equity ownership will be expanded to include 100 percent of McKee employees. North Square is being advised by Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

North Square is committed to the sourcing, vetting and delivery of institutional quality, active investment managers to their financial intermediary partners which include broker dealers, wealth management advisors, RIAs, family offices, retirement plans and private banks. The firm delivers value to its investment partners by providing support services and access to distribution while assisting distribution partners as they search for high quality, alpha generating active investment strategies to build better risk-adjusted portfolios for their clients. At this time, North Square’s multi-boutique platform includes a mutual fund family and ownership interests in the distinctly branded firms of C.S. McKee and Oak Ridge Investments with collective assets under management and advisement of over $10 billion on a proforma basis.

About North Square
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, North Square Investments is an independent, multi-boutique investment firm dedicated to delivering differentiated active investment strategies to the market. With an experienced senior management team, a board composed of industry veterans including John Amboian, Neil Cummins and Brian Gaffney, and backed by Estancia Capital Partners, North Square is a leader in aggregating best-in-class active managers and delivering select, in-demand investment strategies to financial intermediary partners for the benefit of their clients.

About C.S. McKee
C.S. McKee is an institutional investment management firm based in Pittsburgh, PA with over $8 billion under management in taxable fixed income, equity and balanced portfolios. The firm was founded in 1931 and became a Registered Investment Advisor in 1972. McKee’s clients include pension funds, profit-sharing plans, reserve funds, operating funds and other financial assets for states, counties, municipalities, unions, financial service companies, corporations, endowments and foundations, hospitals, universities, religious organizations and other institutions.