Lido co-CEO floats cross-border wealth deals for $42.5B RIA

Lido Advisors, a $42.5 billion RIA per PWD's database, is open to buying a wealth manager abroad, co-CEO Ken Stern said at Wealth Management's RIA Edge Orange County conference.

Stern called international expansion "super smart" and said other RIAs should have the option on their radar. He asked why a firm would not look at the Middle East, Europe, Asia or Mexico City, citing "incredible opportunities to bring all that together." He conceded that cross-border deals require an appetite for working across different regulatory jurisdictions.

Per PWD's database, Creative Planning's Baseline Wealth Management holds $1 billion — about 0.3% of Creative Planning's $295.6 billion regulatory AUM — and is one of three US precedents, leaving little pricing evidence for international reach. Baseline has offices in Geneva and Zurich and 14 employees.

Corient expanded into Europe last year by acquiring two UK wealth managers. Wealthspire bought two UK firms, including London-based Atlantic Swiss, which has $1 billion in assets and about 20 employees.

Stern described Lido as a growth firm and said it would be "short-sighted" to tell its board to concentrate on one region or one type of opportunity. "I think that we've reached a point that we can run all over the world," he said. Stern described Lido as taking a more measured approach to M&A than RIAs with a faster dealmaking cadence, organic growth first.

Stern's remarks describe intent rather than a transaction: no target, market or structure was reported.