Warmond acquires Julius Baer's private wealth management biz

In a first in the domestic private wealth management space, city-based Warmond Trustees & Executors has acquired the private wealth management business of Swiss major Julius Baer Trust Company for an undisclosed sum.
Warmond, which specialises in trusteeship, estate planning and e-wills, claimed this is the first acquisition in the domestic private wealth management space wherein a domestic firm is acquiring the business of a multi-national here.
Julius Baer came to the country some years back after acquiring private wealth business of erstwhile DSP Merrill Lynch Trust Services.
Under the deal, the asset under management of Julius Baer in the country will move to Warmond, but the investment platform will continue to be with the Swiss company, Warmond said.

While Julis Baer could not be reached, Warmond did not share the asset under management of both the companies as well as the deal value.
The deal also includes Warmond absorbing the key Julius Baer executives, including Anuradha Shah and Amit Pathak along with the team of erstwhile DSP Merrill Lynch Trust Services.

Warmond, which has pioneered the concept of electronic will-writing in the country since 2014, is promoted by the city-based law firm SNG Partners headed by Rajesh Narain Gupta, and is backed by NA Shah Associates, a full service boutique law firm.
The deal also involves Anuradha Shah and Amit Pathak taking a significant stake and key management positions in Warmond as chief executive and managing director, respectively, but Rajesh Gupta will continue to hold the majority stake. The NA Shah family will also continue to remain invested in the company, Warmond said.

Warmond has been in the estate planning business for about a decade helping HNIs set up private trusts and plan their succession and acts as a corporate trustee for them.
In addition to trusteeship, Warmond is also in will writing and executorship.
Warmond launched the pioneering online will writing called EzeeWill in collaboration with NSDL in late 2014, setting a new trend in the segment.